Desperation
by Mr. Aanonymous
Summary: Look around courtney, this city is drowning in drugs, crime, and curruption. There is a reason I chose this place, there is a reason I chose not to go back to who I was. Its about... control, its about not being the victim. Formerly Duncan's dark side.
1. Our main contender part I

_Ok I've been trying for about a year to find people to write stories for me for multiple series ranging from total drama to harry potter, but it always had the same problems; they either had something come up, lost interest in the fandom, or couldn't live up to my standards. And the reason I never wrote myself is that I never had anything I could use to write with like Microsoft, until now. As for why I'm doing this perticular story its because its the one that I think is gonna be the easiest to write, so enjoy._

_This has been rewritten._

_I own nothing _

**Desperation**

**Chapter 1- Our Main Contender Part I**

Courtney's pov

Hello my name is Courtney Sanchez, and I am 20 years old. I go to Vancouver University and have been for about a year and a half, and if you have to ask, for law of course! I have two parents who have been married for about 25 years and yes, both are Hispanic. Quit asking stupid questions! Anyway I graduated from Vancouver High about two years ago, and yes, top of my class, "Thank you".

"Hey Courtney!" Bridgette said while waving to me while sitting with our mutual friend Gwen at one of the campuses many out door tables.

"Coming!" I called waving back and walking over.

Oh, those are my friends Bridget and Gwen. We've known each other for as long as we can remember and even though that's true, we couldn't be a more different trio. Bridgette is a stereotypical surfer girl; with blond waist length hair and blue eyes. She always looks like she's about to go to the beach.

Gwen is a Goth girl with black and teal striped neck length hair and dresses like a Goth stereotype. You know; dark clothes and fish net whatever. But surprisingly their both great people to be with. Oh, and if you have to ask about me, I'm not the odd one out of this group.

I'm pretty sure that they would describe me as a stereotype lawyer-wannabe, saying I'm up tight, super organized about everything, and wear business clothes everywhere to try to be more lawyer-like. Well, they are wrong! First off, I am not up tight and there is nothing wrong with being organized, or wearing nice clothes to wherever you go, so back off.

"Hey guys what's going on?" I asked sitting down with them.

"Oh nothing, just talking about our bo's, and how "great" they are," said Gwen sarcastically.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Well, Gwen just likes to complain about other people's boyfriends," said Bridgette a little annoyed at Gwen.

"Aw come on! Geoff smiles all the time, it's creepy. And he never closes his mouth when he eats, or shuts up about parties," said Gwen equally annoyed.

"Oh yeah? What about Trent? That wannabe Elvis, writing all those f'ed up songs that no one can get! And he is such a klutz! Come on, fell on his face getting out of the car," said Bridgette getting even more annoyed.

The people they are talking about are their boyfriends, Geoff and Trent. How they each described each other's boyfriends is actually a pretty good description.

Geoff is the university's king party boy, head of the frat, and because both of his parents are pretty well off, he has never had to worry about responsibility, or manners. And while yes, he is a nice guy, all he talks about are parties and his bro's… Yes, he does chew with his mouth open. I'm not sure if he still even goes to class and to tell the truth he almost always smells like weed or like he just drank a licker store. The only reason I haven't turned him in is because I don't want to upset Bridgette. But trust me the second she figures out that Geoff's is no good I'll change my mind pretty quick.

Trent is the one of the many musicians at university, although I never personally liked his songs, and like Bridgette said, they are kind of hard to understand. He is also an extreme klutz and wimp. When she said that he got hurt getting out of the car, she meant that he tripped and fell getting out of the car and landed on his face. And that's only one of the many times he's gotten hurt doing ordinary stuff, he has had many other accidents. Although his father is a lawyer he wants to be a music teacher. I like him a little better than Geoff because he has manners and does not smell like he needs to go to AA. So aside from the crappy music I think he's ok.

I personally don't know how either Bridgette or Gwen can stand them, because my boyfriend is perfect by comparison.

"Ah come on, guys don't fight." I said trying to defuse the tension while Bridgette and Gwen were scowling at each other.

"Yeah, you're right Courtney." They Gwen said while Bridgette sighed.

"Of course I'm right." I said gladly closing my eyes and smiling in victory.

"Yeah, you're right Courtney. Because all we've been doing is talking about each others boyfriends when we should be taking about yours," said Gwen with a smirk.

"Yeah, how is Duncan these days?" Bridgette asked with an evil smile on her face.

"He's… fine why do you ask?" I ask.

"Oh nothing, we're just wondering about mister vanilla that's all." Gwen said.

"Yeah Courtney, how is the king of boring doing?" asked Bridgette.

"He is not mister vanilla or boring!" I all but yelled trying to defend my boyfriend.

"Oh really? Remember what he said his favorite thing to do is?" Gwen asked.

"Or that he never wants to go clubbing with us or our boyfriends." Bridgette asked.

In case you're wondering, their asking about my boyfriend, Duncan. I met him a few months ago in the school library. We were both working on a mandatory assignment for every class about the school, and we decided to help each other. Shortly after we started dating.

Bridgette and Gwen both think he is boring because he said that likes to work, and because he said he doesn't drink. But who cares what they think, have you seen him? I mean look at the guy, he's hot! Ah I think I got a little off topic.

And if you're thinking that I'm shallow, well, you're wrong. I care about his personality too. He always helps me with my homework and lets me talk to him about my day. And who cares if he isn't the most interesting man in the world, or if his idea of a good time is getting his homework done? That's just fine… he's … great.

"Face it Courtney, Duncan's boring." Bridgette said.

"Okay, so maybe he is boring, but he's a great guy, and have you seen him?" I almost scream while pointing at nothing.

"Courtney, who cares if he is a nice guy? And him being hot only counts a little. He's boring, and this is college! We're supposed to have fun and excitement, not be dating Mr. nice guy who has no sense of fun! And who, by the way, I'm pretty sure is balding!" Gwen yelled.

"He is not balding!" I said in one final attempt to defend Duncan.

"Yeah I'm gonna go with Gwen on this one Courtney. Why do you think he always wears a hat everywhere he goes?! Hey, maybe instead of balding he has a brightly colored Mohawk he's trying to hide from you." Bridgette said sarcastically.

"Ha ha ha, very funny." I laughed sarcastically. "While it's true Duncan always wears hats, I'm sure it's not because he's balding. He's 20, guys don't bald when their 20… do they? So what do you think I should do?" I ask confused.

"Dump him, and find someone a little more exciting." Bridgette replied rather harshly, which I gotta say I expected from Gwen.

"Yeah Courtney, you should find someone not just exiting, but dangerous. Maybe a delinquent with piercings." Gwen suggested sarcastically. Okay that I expected from Gwen.

"I mean come on, Courtney, every time you date some guy he is either just like you, as in he is uptight and super business like, and to be honest, a bit anti-social," said Bridgette looking at me a little scared. Probably a good idea considering she just indirectly insulted me. It it was from anyone else I would be yelling their ears off.

"Or is actually an asswhole, just pretending to be a nice guy." finished Gwen looking straight at me not at all scared but kind of sad. Dammit now they're making me depressed. WHY THE HELL DID THEY HAVE TO BRING HIM UP?!

"When you started dating Duncan I thought it was great that you at least dated someone who wears black sometimes, and yes, Duncan has WAY more social skills than your last few boyfriends. You need to let Alejandra go Courtney."

What they mean is that throughout high school I dated people who were in my future white caller social circle and while we looked great as a couple, they either treated me like crap, or were completely awkward to be around. The one exception was Alejandro, who while Hispanic like me, was completely different from the rest of the preppy crowd I was with in my after school activities. When we dated it was magical, or at least I thought it was.

He treated me better than any of my previous boyfriends had, like taking me to good movies, fine restaurants, and helping me get to leading positions in our clubs, however, what I didn't know at the time was that he was just using me. He made me do extra homework, and by that I mean for two people besides me, including him. I just thought he was in extra classes like me.

Whenever I asked him about the extra work he would always say I was smart enough and could handle it, or tell me how pretty I was, which of course made me forget I asked the question and blush. We even shared a laptop for the work because there was so much. He really just took me to those nice places so that I would like him more and wouldn't ask so many questions, and so I would be more obedient, which is why he helped get me to lead the clubs we were in. Because if I was the one in charge and he was in charge of me, if I screwed up he wouldn't take any of the heat. Eventually Gwen and Bridgette intervened and got me to break up with Alejandra, after which he turned everyone against me.

Every club that both I and Alejandro were in kicked me out when suddenly certain "evidence" appeared that showed how I cheated in getting the president or chairmen seats in those clubs.

Then all my work that I had on the laptop that we shared was gone, and by the way, there was several months' worth of work for all of my classes. I tried to get the teachers to give me more time and explain the situation, but most of them wouldn't hear it. Only a few teacher gave me the time, but regardless, almost all my classes went down from an A+ to almost a D or F. When my parents found out… Oh wow, I thought they might actually kill me, they almost did… My father slapped me.

I tried to explain to them what happened, but they reacted similarly to how the teachers reacted, only with much more hostility and more threats of violence. They grounded me for over a month. And to top it all off, at the beginning of my punishment period Alejandro actually came to my front yard while my parents were away, with a paper in his right hand that I could see was an A+, on what was one of the assignments that I worked on. He also had a flash drive in his left hand that probably had the rest of my work on it, which he promptly smashed right there on the spot. Right when I was about to start crying, the queen bitch of the school herself, Heather, came up to Alejandra and started to… Make out with him. It was then that I started balling my eye's out after they saw that, they left.

After Alejandro I promised myself that I would never date someone like him again and tried to find someone who was the complete opposite of him, someone safe, boring, and helpful. Like Duncan.

"No! I am not dating a delinquent! And I am fine with Duncan just the way he is," I said standing up with my eye's closed pointing at the sky to look more authoritative. "I think I liked this conversation more when you guys were complaining about your own boyfriends." I said as my phone started vibrating in my pocket.

"Hold on guys." I said as I pulled it out and answered it.

"Hey Courtney." Duncan said.

"Hey Duncan, what's going on." I asked.

"Oh nothing, just got into a little car accident." Duncan said annoyingly nonchalant.

"What! What happened? Where are you? Are you hurt?" I demanded.

"I'm fine, I'm at the dorm parking lot," he said, again, annoyingly nonchalant.

"Don't move, I'll be right there," I ordered before Duncan had a chance to respond. "Sorry guys I have to go. Duncan got into a car accident, I'm gonna go see if he's okay." I told my friends.

"Umm, is he okay?" Bridgette asked looking both confused and concerned along with Gwen.

"He sounded like it, but I'm still gonna go and see. By the way, we are not done with this conversation." I said leaving my friends and going the parking lot to my car to check up on Duncan. Who is not balding!

_In case you readers are wondering the full plot is on ChloeRhian nonX's who wants to write, and yes the real dark side will come soon, ha ha. Now I did some reediting because when I first posted this it was full of gramical errors and a few plot wholes but not now at least non that I can see if there are please tell me k. oh and if you guys have any good total drama quotes please tell me because I will use them in my chapters._

-_forshadowing is hard in real life but easy in fiction._

_- Mr. Aanonymous_


	2. Our main contender  part II

_Hello everyone. Now about the story, while the last chapter might not have lived up to the highp well it wasn't supposed to it was designed as a framing device telling the background of Courtney and her friends while setting up the plot for the future. Now here is the next chapter and this time enjoy and review PLEASE. And yes most of the story until I say different will be in Courtney's pov._

_Oh and since this has been rewritten there will be a few differences so I hope you like them. _

I own nothing. It sucks that we have to write that because we always almost forget to write that.

**Desperation **

**Chapter 2- Our Main Contender Part II**

Courtney's pov

"Ahh! Damn this traffic!" I screamed in my car which as I just yelled is practically cemented in traffic. It is moving just very slowly.

The dorms are only about five minutes from the college campus where Gwen, Bridgette, and I were talking, but dammit I need to get to Duncan as soon as possible. He could be hurt. I know he didn't sound like it, but Duncan doesn't really like to share. But I can tell just by looking at him and how… muscular he is, that he might not even know if he is hurt. So no matter what I'm taking him to the hospital. I thought as I turned a corner and into the parking lot.

"Ah, finally I'm here." I said parking my car and getting out. I then look around the parking lot and I spot Duncan leaning on the his black car talking to someone. I then walk over to them.

"Hey court." Duncan said nonchalantly leaning on his slightly dented car while some scrawny redhead in a hamburger shirt is glaring at him with his arms crossed.

"Duncan what happened? Are you okay? And who is this guy?" I practically screamed pointing at the hamburger shirt wearing redhead.

"Okay, in order, "this guy" was trying to drive out of the parking lot, while I was backing out of said parking lot and accidentally backed in to him. And yes, I'm okay; I just called you so that I could tell you that I wouldn't be able to join you for lunch. And "this guy" is Harold." Duncan said gesturing at 'Harold'.

"Hi," Harold said waving. "Your boyfriend is so lucky that I have to get to class, or I would have sued his blind ass off." Said Harold in quite possibly the most annoying way possible.

"Yeah whatever, if you did try to sue Duncan, good luck. I'm in law school and I'm damn good, you Napoleon Dynamite wannabe." I said to the nerd.

"Gosh! I am so out of here. Later jerks," said Harold as he walked back over and into his van and drove off. His van had some kind of design on it but I didn't care at the moment.

"Heh heh, hey Courtney, while I appreciate you coming down here to see if I was okay, you really didn't need to. I'm fine," said Duncan, with a sly smirk on his face.

"Duncan, you just got into a car accident, I'm taking you to a hospital, right now." I ordered my possibly be injured boyfriend.

"Courtney, I'm fine. If I was hurt don't you think I would be showing it?" Asked Duncan pointing at himself.

"Maybe, but Duncan you're a really buff guy and you might not even know your hurt, so get in my car now, we're going." I said pointing at the car with my thumb while trying to look as scary as I can.

"Hey Courtney I'd like too but I have class in like 10 minutes." Duncan said tapping on his watch.

"Duncan I'm sure that whoever is running the class will be okay with you missing his lecture to go to the damn hospital. Now come on lets go!" I said grabbing Duncan by his arm and pulling him toward my car. God he can be such a baby some times.

XXX

"Ah! I cannot believe it took over an hour getting here, then ten minutes signing in and another twenty waiting for a doctor to actually show up and do their job. Duncan you could be seriously hurt." I groaned sitting in the hospital lobby.

"If your fed up with the service here we could just leave. I'd be okay with that." Duncan sitting next to me.

"Oh no Duncan. Don't even try to get out of it. We talked about this in the car."

"By that you mean 'get in the car, buckle up, and shut up, we're going and that's final'? Oh yeah that's talking." Duncan sarcastically stated while resting his head on his hand.

"Oh whatever Duncan. Why are you so against this? I'm just taking you to get checked up. It shouldn't take that long. And besides how long has it been since you went to see a doctor anyway?"

"Not that long ago, and weren't you the one who just said it took way too long getting here?"

"Yeah and when we did I tried to explain that to the sign-in lady, or whatever it is you call them that you got in a car accident. But she said that they get about four car accident victims a week and just by looking at you she could tell that most are a lot worse. Nnnnaaah! The nerve of some people! Once I get my law degree I am so suing this place. There aren't even that many people here. But don't think your getting out of answering my question."

But before Duncan had the chance to answer a doctor came up to us and said. "Hello, 'Duncan' is it? We're ready for you,"

Duncan sighed and stood up. "Okay doc lets go."

"Glad to see you sucked it up. Relax Duncan I'm sure it won't be that bad." I said angrily.

"Alright, fine! But are you going to stay here the whole time?" He asked.

"Normally I wouldn't, but after the car ride and how much you're trying to get out of this, I'm staying so you can't sneak away." I said quite annoyed at him.

Duncan then turns to the doctor and says reluctantly. "Sorry to keep you waiting doc."

"Very good, right this way. Miss, you'll have to stay here and wait." The doctor said holding up his hand so that I wouldn't fallow him.

"Alright, see you in a while Duncan." I said waving to Duncan as he and the doctor walk off into the hospital hallway. I then go take a seat somewhere in the lobby.

Duncan's pov

AH, why does Courtney have to be so damn pushy? Tt was barely even a car accident. A nitch. And if she thought what I did in the car ride here was resisting, oh man, a few years ago I would have shown her what resistance was. I have to get out of here soon or at least make it so Courtney doesn't know.

"Hey doc, any way I could get out of this?" I asked while still walking and not looking at the doctor.

"Afraid of hospitals Mr. Evens?" asked the doctor while looking at his clip board like he was expecting my question.

"You could say that." I said looking at the security cameras and emergency exits even though I know that just running away wouldn't accomplish anything. Old habits.

"Heh heh, sorry Mr. Evens, but don't worry. I'm sure this won't take that long, and then you'll be out of here," said the doctor with an innocent smile.

'probably not.' I thought holding my side which hurt like a bitch every time I moved. We then stopped walking at one of the rooms.

"Alright, we're here. Please go inside, sit down, and take off your shirt, and then we'll get started." The doctor said while walking inside and still looking at his clipboard. I didn't see any other choice so I did as he said. I tried to take off my shirt which was very difficult, but I did it. I then sat down on the hospital bed and waited for the eventual stair of surprise and shock.

"Okay, let's see what we have here… Well that's interesting," said the doctor surprised while looking at my shirtless torso.

Courtney's pov

"Waaaaa, waa!" A baby screamed waking me up.

"Wha, what." I then looked at my watch and holy crap its been almost three hours. I walk up to the secretary and ask. "Excuse me has Mr. Evans left yet?"

The secretary looks at her computer screen and answers. "I'm sorry he's still has not left."

"Uhhh, thank you." I groaned walking aback to my seat in the lobby. Well since I'll be here for who knows how long, I might as well call somebody. "I wonder what Gwen is doing?" I asked as I pulled out my phone and went to speed dial and pressed her number. It rang a few times but was answered quickly.

"hey courtney." Gwen greeted.

"Hey Gwen, what're you doing?" I asked.

"Oh, nothing much. Just waiting for Bridgette and Geoff to get done with their make out session!" Gwen said, screaming the last part at Bridgette and Geoff.

"Gwen, I know your annoyed that they do that all the time when their together with us, but shouldn't you be on a double date with them and Trent?" I asked.

"Yeah, but he called and said he'd be a little running late. Oh, and by the way, how's Duncan?" Gwen asked a little concerned.

"Oh, I took him to the hospital, and he's still getting checked out." I informed her.

"Wow really? It's been like three hours, what is he having, surgery or something?" She asked sarcastically.

"Well, half of the time was just getting here."

"Well, that's the price you pay for trying to drive to the other side of town during rush hour, Courtney. And I really wish you were here like we planned to have our triple date. At least with you here I could've had a decent conversation until Trent showed up," she said sounding disappointed.

"I know, I would have loved to go, but I'm really worried about Duncan. He looked fine on the ride here. It shouldn't have taken this long." I said sounding concerned.

"I'm sure the docs just being thorough- Oh! I got to go, Trent's here, bye Courtney," she said sounding a little exited, before hanging up. Some friend.

"Bye Gwen." I said sarcastically, even though she already hung up. I then put my phone back into my pocket. Soon after I did Duncan came around the corner from where I was sitting.

"Hey Courtney, sorry for the wait,"

"Duncan, finally. What took so long? it's almost 7:30." I said looking at my watch.

"The doctor wanted to be thorough, I guess. He made me get an MRI and an X-ray," he said with no emotion.

"What? Why did he do that?" I asked confused.

"I don't know, let's ask him. Here he comes," he said, pointing down the lobby hall way to the doctor walking toward us.

"Hello, Mr. Evens, your test came back. Would you like to see them?" asked the doctor holding a huge medical file and attempting to give it to Duncan.

"Um, no, that's fine. I guess that since I'm not in surgery it's not that serious," said Duncan holding up one hand defensively while the other was rubbing the back of his neck.

"What I want to know is why you made him get an MRI and an X-ray, was that really necessary?" I asked somewhat angrily.

"Well, miss, after seeing that large bruising on Mr. Evens, I thought it was necessary. And, Mr. Evens, it is somewhat serious," said the doctor emotionless.

"See, I told you that you got hurt in the car accident." I said triumphantly.

"Um, actually miss, Mr. Evens didn't get the injury from any car accident, at least not from what you described to the secretary," said the doctor.

"Um, what do you mean?" I asked confused.

"Well, Mr. Evens has massive bruising all over his torso, arms, and part of his legs. After seeing that, I had him take an MRI to make sure that he didn't have any head injuries. And yes, you do. You have a small concussion. And I had him get an X-ray to determine if he had any broken bones, and while you do not, you still have three bruised ribs, a sprained knee, and some bruising in you forearms. All of which has happened in the last few months, not in some recent, small car accident." Informed the doctor.

"Oh come on doc, it's not that serious. Maybe the machines got it wrong," suggested Duncan with a surprisingly straight face.

"No Mr. Evens, I had the work done twice to make sure. And as a doctor I must advise that whatever it is you do for a hobby, please stop, or if it's for work, find a new place of employment." Advised the doctor.

After hearing him, I just couldn't believe my ears. 'Duncan is so gonna get it when this is over.' I thought.

"I don't need to give you any medicine as most of your injuries will heal on their own, but please do stop whatever it is you are doing before it becomes worse. Now have a good day and hopefully next time you come in here for a checkup it won't be so bad," said the doctor after he handed the file to Duncan. He then left to attend to other patients.

"Duncan, what the hell happened to you?" I demanded fairly loudly, unknowingly making a scene.

"Um, could we talk about this back at the dorms or something, and not in the hospital? I think we've been here long enough," he said pointing around the lobby, making me realize that everybody was watching us.

"Fine." I said angrily while walking to the hospital exit, Duncan in tow with a smirk on his face. Probably from the thought of finally getting out of the hospital. Can't say I blame him and if I wasn't so pissed off at him right now I would be too.

As soon as we got into the car Duncan fell asleep, and I mean really asleep. I tried waking him up by talking to him. I would have tried poking him or nudging him, but after what the doctor told us I decided against it. I don't know if it was the visit to the doctor, or his injuries, but he must have been really worn out.

Duncan's pov

Uh, thank God that place was full of people, and Courtney hates making scenes. Thanks to all those years of playing dead during my "extended detention periods" faking being asleep is pretty damn easy. I just wish I could stay like this forever so I won't have to deal with Courtney when we get back to the dorms.

Oh, okay, well, it's 8:10 right now, it takes about 20 minutes to get there, since it's not rush hour anymore, so I have that long to think of a decent story for my injuries. Then I have to go to work at 9:00, and it takes about 10 minutes to get there, so I have about 10 minutes to deal with I can get out of it early.'I think as everything goes black.

XXX

"Hey, Duncan, we're here, wake up," said Courtney nudging my shoulder.

Oh crap. I really did fall asleep, um, um, what's my cover story? … Crap don't have one. Just have to wing it. I then opened my eyes and sat up.

"Yeah, okay Court. Hey what time is it?" I asked.

"It's about 8:40, why?" Said Courtney after looking at her watch while getting out of the car.

"Oh, no reason." I said smirking also getting out of the car.

"So, are we gonna talk about it?" asked Courtney nicely for a change.

"Talk about what?" I asked pretending like I didn't know what she was talking about.

"What do you think? Duncan, you're hurt and not from the car accident. Are you gonna tell me what happened or not?" She demanded with her hands on her hips if I wasn't so tired and annoyed right now that'd be pretty damn hot. Too bad that nice thing didn't last long.

"How about not?" I asked folding up my arms.

"What?" She asked, looking like her mom just drove over her cat, while dropping her arms from her hips.

"Courtney, I'm fine, and it's nothing for you to be concerned about." I said defiantly.

"Did you hear the doctor at all? You're not fine, and I'm your girlfriend, so of course it's my concern! Now tell me," She said getting back into her hands on hip, chewing out position.

"Okay fine! I tripped and fell, happy?" I said making it up.

"You tripped and fell? And you expect me to believe that?" She said not buying it.

"And it was down a flight of stairs." I said adding to the story calmly.

"DUNCAN!" She screamed looking super pissed off.

"Look, I just don't feel like sharing, so could you back off?" I said getting more annoyed by the minute.

"No, tell me!" She demanded. And just before I was gonna give into my impulse to strangle her, my cell's alarm clock went off.

'NOT AFRAID, TO TAKE A STAND, EVERYBOD,,,

"Sorry princess, this conversation's got to wait. I have to go to work now," I said shutting off my cell and running the best I could to my car across the parking lot, which hurts like a bitch thanks to the sprained knee and bruised ribs.

"What? This isn't over!" She screamed at me.

Courtney's pov

"What this isn't over!" I screamed, but I don't think he heard me. As soon as he said he had to go to work, he ran to his car and drove off. Huh, didn't think a guy with a sprained knee could run that fast. After that I went back to my dorm. When I got to the front of the building, before I could get to the dorms I was met by Gwen and Bridgette.

"Hey Courtney, where is Duncan? Is he alright?" Asked Bridgette frantically.

"Huh, oh hey Gwen, hey Bridgette, Duncan's at work." I informed them.

"Oh, that's good he's alright," said Gwen looking a little relieved.

"Actually no, he's not. Duncan's actually really injured." I said reluctantly.

"What? What's wrong with him?" Asked Gwen looking concerned.

"I guess I should tell you." I said just before I explained the story.

XXX

"Wow, what happened to him?" Bridgette asked intrigued.

"He wouldn't tell me, he tried to tell me this BS story of him falling down some stairs." I informed them.

"You sure it was BS Courtney? Falling down stairs could do that." Gwen said.

"No, I was sure Gwen. He only added in the part about the stairs after I had already asked him before." I said regaining my anger.

"Huh, didn't even know you and Duncan argue," said Bridgette.

"I know, didn't think he was the arguing type," said Gwen.

It was just then I realized that this was my and Duncan's first real fight. I looked up with a slightly sad face and said, "And then in the middle, he said he had to go to work."

"He went to work? Should he even be doing that? From what you told us he shouldn't even be moving, let alone going to work. Hey, what does he do anyway?" Asked Bridgette.

"Um, I don't really know, I never asked. I always thought he worked at a store or something." I said to them.

"But it's almost 9pm, and he's working?" asked Gwen.

"Um, yeah. He works at night." I said.

"Wait, wait, wait. Let me get this straight. Your boyfriend, Duncan, the king of boring, is injured, won't tell you how he got injured, and works at night, at a place you don't even know?" Asked Gwen.

"Um, yeah. That's the gist of it." I said feeling like I was forced to tell a lie. And I'm a bad liar.

"I take it back Courtney. Duncan's not boring, he's mysterious," said Bridgette.

I thought for a minute on what Gwen and Bridgette said, and yes, everything she said is true. I don't know how he got hurt, he won't tell me, and I don't know where he works, or why he does it at night.

"What's going on here? I am going to find him and give him a piece of my mind! " I screamed.

"Um, that's great Courtney, but unless you know where he works, you're not giving him anything," Gwen deadpanned.

"Nah, damn it!" I yelled.

"Hello ladies, couldn't help but over hear, with ya know the yelling, but I might know where your boyfriend is," said some familiar wheezing voice behind us. I and gwen and Bridgette then turn to the voice and I see another headache.

"Hey, you're that guy that Duncan backed into earlier. How would you know?" I asked still pissed off.

"Oh, I put a tracking device on his car," he said like it was the most normal thing in the world.

"Okay, two things. One, why would you put a tracking device on his car? And two, how would you even get that?" asked Bridgette.

"I'm getting my masters for micro engineering, and I thought that this would be a good way to test my homework. And if I can't sue him for what he did to my car, I'm at least going to make a formal complaint at where, um, Duncan is it? Works, Blondie," he said stupidly.

"And why are you telling us?" Asked Gwen.

"Well, I thought that going there with his angry girlfriend and her friends would make it worse. Ha ha, he might even get fired," he said with an evil smile.

"Yeah, whatever. Just show us where he is." I demanded.

He pulled out his PDA and showed us a map of Vancouver. I then bend down to look at it, and assuming that Duncan is the little red dot, I see that he is at the wrong side of Vancouver.

"Huh, that's weird. What's he doing on the west side? That's the worst side of town." I asked.

"Well, so much for that. I'm out of here." Harold said taking back his PDA and walking off to who cares where.

"What, why?" I asked.

Looking shocked at what I just asked he turns back to us and said, "Have you ever gone to that part of town? It's dangerous. I'm not going. I won't live through it. I mean, look at me, I'll get eaten alive. I'll just make the complaint to the school instead," he said turning back around and starting to walk off.

"Whatever, just give us the PDA so we can find him." I demanded.

He turned around a third annoying time and said, "You sure you want to go over there?"

"I'm sure, just give us the thing already." I demanded again.

"Fine, just give it back later, okay?" He said giving me his PDA and finally leaving.

"Alright good. Now that you know where he is, what are you gonna do?" asked Bridgette.

"Well, I'm gonna go to where he works, give him a piece of my mind, and get some answers. But you guys don't have to go; I'm fine doing this by myself." I said to them.

"No Courtney, we're gonna go with you to make sure you don't get hurt," said Bridgette with Gwen nodding.

"And besides, I wouldn't miss you chewing out Duncan for anything," Gwen joked.

"Gwen!" We both yelled at Gwen.

"What? It's just a joke," said Gwen holding her hands up like she was surrenduring.

"Alright, let's get going." I said as well all head to our car.

XXX

It took us about 10 minutes to get to the west side by driving there, even though I've never been here before, I can tell you I never want to come here ever again. People were stealing, mugging, and dealing all over the place and I didn't see one cop. Duncan must be crazy to work here.

"Okay, the PDA says he's in there." Gwen said in the passenger seat of my car, pointing to a broken down warehouse that had its parking lot filled up for some strange reason.

"That's just an old warehouse. You sure we got the right place?" I asked just before I drove into the parking lot of the place. I kept driving down each isle trying to find an open space, but dammit it was hard.

"That's what the PDA says," she replied as I eventually found a parking space and parked.

"Wow, this part of town really is bad. I saw two beatings and three muggings just driving down here... should we call the cops." asked Bridgette looking out the window worried.

"Yeah its pretty bad, but no let's just get Duncan and get this over with as soon as possible." I said a little mad that I'm here. Gwen, Bridgette, and I walked up to the nearest door of the warehouse and tried to open it. I grabbed the handle and tried to open it but it wouldn't budge.

"Hey, it's locked. We'll have to go in through another way," said Bridgette.

"Hey there's a guy over there by that door, let's ask him," said Gwen, pointing at the bald guy who was standing in front of a door with his arms crossed. The guy like I said was bald, had dark sunglasses, worn out blue jeans, and a solid black shirt. And I gotta tell ya a little bit intimidating. There were a small group of people that walked up to him, gave him a small wad of some kind of purple paper, which I can only assume is a stack of $20's. Once they did the guy opened the door for them and they walked in.

"It looks like you gotta pay to get in. You sure, Gwen? In this neighborhood?" I asked not sure about walking up to a big scary looking stranger guarding the warehouse.

"It's okay I brought some cash, and I brought my Taser," she said pulling out her Taser and pulling the trigger and activated it giving off a 'Zzzzzzz' noise along with a string of electricity between the two points.

"Good call." I said pointing at the Taser. After walking to the scary looking guy I asked in the most polite way possible. "Excuse me, can we get in please?"

"It's 35 bucks each," he said to us, not moving at all.

"What! That's absurd! Just let us in." I demanded.

"Sorry girls, you got to pay to get in just like everybody else," he said pointing to the door behind him.

"Fine." I said pulling out my money as Gwen and Bridgette did the same. We then handed our money to him who took it almost happily.

"Okay, you're good. Enjoy the show," he said opening the door for us. We walk in but a little confused by what he meant I turned around.

"Um, what show?" I asked, but he already closed the door. Frustrated I sighed and turned back to Gwen and Bridgette.

"Okay, we're inside. What show was he talking about?" Asked Gwen.

"I'm guessing we just follow those people." Bridgette said pointing to a small group of guy's that came in ahead of us walking down the hall into another room. We fallowed them into the storage center of the warehouse. Inside the storage center anything that was probably part of the original storage was gone with only one stairway leading up to an office space that has been curtained off, and another steeper stairway at the side of a large chain linked arena.

The office seems to be renovated as most of the wall has been replaced with large black glass that I doubt was part of the original design. At the end of the storage space there is a door that leads out to some place I can't see but there is a fence from it to the entrance of the arena.

The arena itself is about the standard size of MMA ring and is located in the center of the warehouse. I know because my whenever Geoff is with us, Bridgette makes us let him choose what to watch and he always makes us watch that on our tvo. Honestly I don't know what Bridgette see's in the guy. Now outside of the ring, the vast majority of the warehouse is packed with people, mostly men, raging and cheering over who is in the ring.

"Well, I guess that answers my question." Gwen said while we were all looking at two huge guys fighting in a steel chain link cage. One of them, the Caucasian guy, had on a yellow costume, a Mohawk and a few facial scares. He didn't have a fohawk, this was a full on shaved head with a strip of black hair in the middle. The other guy was Asian and had on a purple costume with some kind of Asian writing on it.

"Who are they?" I asked openly while staring at the weirdo's in the ring.

"Oh, that's Mightas and Noisy Boy," said some guy in front of us.

"Oh man! Did you see that? Mightas is kicking NB's ass!" Someone else in the crowd yelled as 'noisy boy' just got punched in the face.

"Okay, so Duncan is working at some fight club?" I asked confused, looking at Gwen and Bridgette. Gwen and Bridgette look just as confused as I was and were staring at the ring just like I was, but as soon as I asked that they seemed to snap out of it and looked at me.

"Apparently," said Gwen, but as soon as she did we heard a large slamming sound coming from the ring. We all turned to it and saw ,'NB' I think, on the ground, with mightas standing over him.

**"AND DOWN GOES NOISEY BOY, START THE COUNT!"** Screamed the announcer from his podium on top of the steeper staircase that was at the right of the cage across from the office. The announcer himself looked like he belonged in the cage he was announcing. He was a muscular, African Canadian man, who was probably over six feet tall and looked like he could lift a car.

**"5. 4. 3. 2. 1.!"** cheered the crowd along with the announcer.

**"THE WINNER MIGHTAAAAAAS!"** Announced the announcer. The crowd is still cheering while Mightas, in all his beaten face glory, has his arms up in the air and is roaring. While he does that two of the security guys, who wore she same outfit as the guy guarding the door, sneaked in to the arena and grabed noisy boy's feet and draged him off of it and to who knows where. I can't help but feel a little sorry for the guy, but whatever he chose to do this for these animal's sick entertainment. I then turn back to Gwen and Bridgette.

"Okay, now we know what this place is. Go and try to find Duncan, try the food stand or bathrooms." I ordered Gwen and Bridgette. They then tried to do what I told them but were stopped in their tracks by what was said next.

"Oh, hold on there, chica, no one works here but the security, the announcer, and the contestants," said the same guy who told us about Mightas and NB.

"Oh, that's just great. If that's true, where is he?" I asked out loud. I don't know why I thought they would have a food stand here. This place is obviously illegal.

"Is this even the right place? This doesn't look like a place Duncan would be, let alone work," said Bridgette.

"I guess your right Bridgette. That red headed runt must've just given this to us to mess with us. I'll just have to talk to Duncan tomorrow." I said reluctantly. Me, Bridgette, and Gwen then head for the door to get the hell out of here, because to be honest this much testosterone is starting to make me sick.

But just as we were about to leave out the door, the same guy from earlier said, "Hey wait, you're gonna miss the next round, the main event of the night."

"No thanks, we're good." I said blandly still walking to the exit.

"Oh come on! It's GH, the best brawler this place has to offer, against three people. It's gonna be epic!"

"Well, since we're already here we might as well enjoy the show," said Gwen no longer walking to the exit.

"Yeah, why not? I've got nothing better to do. Let's get our money's worth," said Bridgette walking back toward Gwen.

"Fine." I said defeated. I then walk back to where Gwen is along with Bridgette. We are right behind the guy who convinced us to stay, which is at the end of the crowd but we can still see whats happening in the ring; all the blood from the broken noses and lips and all the beating that I can't understand why people think this is entertainment.

"That's great to hear- Oh its starting," said the same guy turning back to the arena which is now empty. Everyone in the crowd stops cheering, all the lights that are not over the center shut off, leaving only the arena still lit. The announcer then grabs the microphone.

**"AND THAT WAS MIGHTAS VS. NOISEY BOY!"** screamed the announcer into his microphone. He then started moving his hands and body to further emphasize his announcements.

**"NOW. COMES. OUR MAIN EVENT!"**

**"HERE COMES THE FRESH MEAT!" **the announcer screamed. He then pointed to the fenced off back door.

**"JAMACIAN SPICE, THE BRICKHOUCE OF THE CARRIBEAN!" **as he said this a large African Canadian in a dashiki walked out of the fenced off door with his arms into the air and into the arena.

**"THE NOT GENTLE GIANT. BIG O!" **a very large blonde white guy jumped out and started flexing his muscles while walking to the ring.

**"AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST, THE QUEEN OF PAIN HERSELF, EEEVVVAAA!" **when he said that a uni-browed amazon ran into the arena and started banging on the arena floor like an animal at the zoo. 'She' then roared with her hands in the air. As soon as she did the crowd cheered like they were at the damn American super bowl.

"Wow, I feel sorry for the chump who has to fight those guys." I said freaked out with Bridgette and Gwen nodding equally freaked.

"Oh, you should be worried for them," said the audience guy looking at the arena. I look at him confused. No way is he serious. There is no possible way someone could take on these animal and not get beaten to a bloody pulp.

**"AND TONIGHT FOR OUR MAIN EVENT!"**

**"THE EMRALD KING!"**

**"THE GREEEEEN HOOOOD!"**

That's when this guy dressed a black hoodie walked out into the ring, and then he took off the hood and… It can't be.

"It can't be, is that?" Gwen asked while I was putting my hands on my head panicking.

"It's Duncan! What's he doing in there!" I screamed.

Then Duncan pulled off his hat to reveal that he has a green fohawk.

**"GET READY FOR SOME BLOOD TONIGHT!"**

**"BECAUSE GH IS LOOKIN' MADDDDD!"**

_That's right people although it was kind of obvious but just enjoy the moment and review. Oh and 11 pages oh yeah that's almost 3 times what the last chapter was so suck it. I also edited this one so enjoy. Again if your interested please give me some good total drama quotes that you think goes along with this chapter or you will have more like the one at the bottom because I can't think of any better ones._

-shock is the one thing you can't prepare for,

_That's from me._


	3. Our main contender  part III

_Ok to clear a few things up from the last chapter I'll explain a few things. 1, mightas and noisy boy in the last chapter are based on the robots from the movie real steel ,in the last chapt I said mightas was white and that noisy boy was Asian because mightas is based off of Greek culture and noisy boy was made in japan and I am not a racist in that mightas won its just how it was done in the movie. And also the three contenders that are facing Duncan are obviously dj, owen, and eva just making that clear. In this chapt most of it will be in duncan's pov._

_I own nothing._

**DESPERATION**

**Chapter 3- Our Main Contender Part III**

DUNCAN'S POV

NOT AFRAID, TO TAKE A STAND, EVERYBOD,,,

"Sorry princess, this conversation's got to wait. I got to go to work now." I said to her and shortly after I did I bolted to my car as fast as I could thank god it's close.

"What? This isn't over!" She screamed at me.

Oh Jesus, I couldn't get out of there fast enough, seriously. Why am I dating her? She never lets anything go. Uh, I'm just glad that the parking lot my car is in, is right next to the dorms. Okay, great. I'm in my car heading to the place of pain that is my work station. At least I have a few minutes to think of a decent cover story for princess.

Um, let's see. I can't give her the falling down the flight of stairs one because I already screwed that one up. I also can't give her the car accident one, because the doc already disproved that. Um…, I'll just say I was mugged and I didn't want to tell her because it'd make her worry. Yeah, that'll work, she'll buy that.

Speaking of the doc who does he think he is telling me what to do? I've had a lot worse than this, way worse. I would have been fine if he didn't have to explain my injuries to Courtney! Isn't that against some kind of doctor/patient confidential thing? Uh! He's worse than those idiots down at medical….

"HOLY SHIT!". I scream as I wake up thanks to a truck honking loudly and just bearly drive my car out of a head on collision and back into my lane of traffic as the truck drives past me. Ah man. I must've fallen asleep again, only this time I was driving, Dammit! I sigh, take a few deep breaths and try to relax and I look out to the side of the street.

"Oh man, this neighborhood is worse than back home." I said looking around to see a building being broken into, people lifting tires off of cars, and a few muggings.

"Huh, not surprising." I said witnessing a dirty cop taking bribe money from a pimp and another from a drug dealer. The cops in this town aren't that corrupt. Every town has their dirty cops, and they all go to the same place to do "side business".

After a few more minutes, and a few more crimes I drive into the neighborhood of where I work. "Alright, finally I'm here." I said driving up to a warehouse whose parking lot is filled to the damn brim. Thank god for employee parking.

"Well, might as well call the boss and ask him what he wants me to do tonight." I said pulling out my cell phone. I try calling him but I notice that I have no signal, which is strange because I've called him from this exact location before, I shouldn't have any problems.

"Huh, what? No signal, the hell?" I asked out loud. I then look to the side of my car and find something strange; right in front of the back right tail light.

"Oh, no way." I said finding a red blinking chip scotched taped to my car.

"Okay, who put you on there blinky?" I asked out loud pulling off my car.

"Your obviously not from the cops because one, I haven't done anything illegal since that... uh time, and two, if they were gonna use a tracking device they would have used a better hiding spot. So who the hell put you there? Whatever I don't have time for this crap ill just have figure it out later." I said putting the chip into my pants pocket. There is no point In breaking it as whoever put this on my car already knows about this place and if I leave it intact I can find out whoever did put there, and besides a bug might be useful. I then walk up to the bouncer at the front of the warehouse.

"Hey bounce, let me in I gotta get to work." I said the guard.

"Got it man." He said nodding to me before opening the door for me.

I walked into the building and past him. If you're wondering why I didn't just use the employee entrance, it's because all the other doors have either been welded or locked shut so no one can sneak in. When I get into the arena part of the warehouse I pull up my hood and try to sneak through the cheering crowd watching the fight right now.

Alright, now that that's taken care of, I gotta find out what I gotta do tonight. I can't call my boss because the trackers still on, so my phone won't work. Eh, I'll just ask Hatchet, he'll probably know. I then look around for hatchet. I then walk over to stairs where the announcer is.

Hatchet is just leaning against the guards of the stairs watching the fight. Most of the time the announcer doesn't really do anything but show off the fighters before the round starts and at the end when he announces the winner. Other than that he just sits back and watches like the rest of the people here. I walk up the stairs and ask. "Hey hatchet, know what I gotta do tonight? Lost my phone so I can't call the boss and ask 'm."

"Lost your phone? Now you askin' me what to do? Lazy punk ass." Hatchet said while folding his arms and giving me a dirty look.

"Well do you know, army reject?" I asked a little annoyed. He always looks pissed off, and to anybody. Don't know why and don't really care. He'd never try anything and even if he did I could take him easy.

"Course I know, I'm the announcer. You gotta fight these three nut jobs over there." Hatchet said taking out his iPhone and showed me picks of the three biggest freaks I've ever seen since I started working here.

The first on the is a really tall and muscular black guy, who had on a dashiki. The second one was this blonde, really FAT guy who had on camo shorts and a large sleeveless white shirt with a big O on it. And the last one was a very in shape uni-browed, 'girl', who looks like she's been giving herself some injections of steroids. I try not to look at 'her' groin to check if there is a buldg in those skin tight navy blue bike shorts.

"What? I have to fight those three? I'm only supposed to fight one!" I said to hatchet pointing at his iPhone.

"Yeah, but the boss man thought you could handle it. And besides, we have over four times the people paying to get in to see this, so deal with it!" he said putting back his iPhone into his pocket.

"what about the so called champ? Why isn't he fighting those reality show rejects? He's usually the one who has to deal with this crap"

"He don't fight tonight, and since he don't you're gonna fight for him punk boy."

"Mother of Christ, thats crap." I said calmly but still frustrated.

"Boy, you gonna need an ambulance after tonight," he said turning back to the fight in the arena with a smile on his face.

"Who do you think you're talking to Army reject?" I said with a half pissed off expression on my face while thinking about those three circus rejects he showed me.

"I don't care how tough you are. The Jamaican is twice your size, the walking stomach is three times your size, and the 'girl' is about the same size as you, but you know she'll be playin' with a little 'help', heh heh. You probably the weakest here, but don't worry, I'll drop your broken body off at the hospital if ya can't take it. Or the morgue. Depends on what happens." He said still smirking.

"Yeah, whatever." I said not paying attention to what he was saying anymore. Examining those three wasn't that hard, just had to ignore hatchet and think about those three for a few seconds.

"Yo army reject, when am I up?" I asked with a wise ass smirk.

"You up next, after Mighty and NB. And by the look of it, NB won't be too much longer."

"That's fine. I'm just glad that I can finally take off this stupid hat, it itches." I said scratching my head.

"Yeah, whatever, just don't lose man. Don't forget you're our main money maker. Now get the hell down there." Hatchet said going out to his announcing spot to do his job.

"Oh you don't have to worry about that.." I said running down to the fenced off door.

**"AND DOWN GOES NOISEY BOY, START THE COUNT," **screamed the announcer into his mic.

**"5. 4. 3. 2. 1." **Screamed the crowd along with hatchet**.**

**"THE WINNER MIGHTAAAAAAS!" **hatchet said pointing at mightas who was still showboating from his win.

"Time to go to work." I said with a sigh as I get into the ludus. When I do those three bozo's recognize me as their next fight and the 'girl' is giving me a death glare, trying to look intimidating. I did nothing in response.

"Hey you ready for this man?" Asked Big O.

"Yeah, I guess. Its no different than any other day at work." I answered.

"Yeah but now your fighten three of us. Sorry bout not taken it easy on out there. It aint fair what the boss is doing to ya." Said Jamaican spice.

"Wouldn't ask you to. Hurts our pay check if ya do." I then stop for a second and see that Eva is still giving me that damn look. "Would you stop that already! Jesus, what is with you Eva?"

Eva stops glaring at me and just folds her arms. "Whatever."

I sigh again and say to JS and Big O. "Hey guys try to work together out there. You'll last longer and you might have a shot at winning."

"Against you? Doubt it man. Your a straight up beast."

"Just try not to leave a lot of bruises or broken bones man. My mom's starting to catch on." Asked Jamaican spice. I just nod as a response.

**"AND THAT WAS MIGHTAS VS. NOISEY BOY," **hatchet announced as mightas walked out of the ring and back into the ludus, and when he did he collapsed on one of the benches. NB was dragged in by the security guys and just left on the ground unconscious next to his locker.

**"NOW COMES OUR MAIN EVENT!"**

**"HERE COMES THE FRESH MEAT!"**

**"JAMACIAN SPICE, THE BRICKHOUCE OF THE CARRIBEAN!" **the Jamaican then walked out and raised his arms in the air while he went into the ring.

**"THE NOT GENTLE GIANT, BIG O!" **the big guy then walked out and just started flexing his muscles repeatedly. And I gotta tell ya it looked more like he was trying to take a dump more than anything else.

**"AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST, THE QUEEN OF PAIN HERSELF, EEEVVVAAA!"** the 'girl' then ran out and onto the arena and then started banding down on the floor like a gorilla and then roared with her hands in the air. The crowd loved this and cheered louder. Looks like someone's going through some roid rage.

As they were out doing their best showboating routine in the arena, I was running in place and doing a few practice jabs to warm up.

**"AND TONIGHT FOR OUR MAIN EVENT!"**

**"THE EMRALD KING!"**

**"THE GREEEEEN HOOOOD**!" hatchet said.

I then put my hood up agian and hat back on and then walked out into the ring. As I did, I thought about my situation. I thought about how Courtney almost found out what I do for a living, how I almost died driving down here because how little sleep I get a week, and now how I have to fight three chumps instead of just one. It's makin' me so pissed off.

After I got to the middle of the ring I took off my hoodie, and then my very itchy hat and let my Fohawk out. Just by looking at me the chumps look a little more intimidated.

**"GET READY FOR SOME BLOOD TONIGHT!"**

**"BECAUSE GH IS LOOKIN MADDDDD!"**

"Alright, let's get started." I said angrily, loud enough so the three can hear me.

**"ALRIGHT, ONE ROUND, LAST ONE STANDING WINS!" **hatchet said holding up one finger.

**"AAAANNNNDDD START." **He said banding onto a little bell.

After the bell rang, eva tried to tackle me. I jumped a little to the side and just as she was right next to me, I grabbed the back of her shirt caller and the back of her shorts. Then using her momentum, I swung her around me and onto the Jamaican.

I threw her at him because I know at him that he really doesn't want to be here and is actually a nice guy. Therefore I knew he would try to catch her, which he did 'try' to do. As she hit him, they both flew back into the cage, the 'girl' hitting her head, disorientating her, while the Jamaican, stunned at what happened, doesn't move.

After that, the big guy came at me, unimpressed at what I did. He tried taking a few swings at me, but I dodged every one of them. This kept on for about ten seconds until he got tired and stopped, after which I jumped up, letting out a roar, and hit him in between the eyes.

I knew that instead of taking him head on, I should let him try attacking me so he would tire himself out, allowing me to hit him back without having to worry about anything. Guys like him, the big guys, only have any energy when they eat a bunch of candy.

As the big guy fell to the ground, seemingly knocked out, the announcer looked at me with a 'what you doin' look. I forgot that I have to make this fight last, which means I have to let them hit me a lot. Damn it.

After I was done looking at the announcer, I noticed that Eva was trying to tackle me again. Does she know any other moves? Normally if someone tried to tackle me after I used the 'bitch throw' I'd just punch them in the face and knock them out. But since I can't do that, I have to let her hit me. Great.

Did I ever mention I hate this? I think as she tackles me to the ground.

As she hit me, we fell on the floor. She was on top of me, sitting on my waist. As she was on my waist she started punching me with probably all her strength. These body builder chicks like her are always overly aggressive.

I put up my hands after I let her punch me in the face a few times. Great, now instead of my face hurting, my hairline fracture is starting to really hurt. I gotta get her off of me now.

As I thought that, I rapped my feet around the front of her neck, pulling her down. When she fell down on her back, I got up and rolled her over onto her back, grabbing her left wrist and pulling it to the right side, putting her into a hold. Which, by the way, hurt and are hard to break. I would know. After I got her in the lock, I got her to her feet and started hitting her in the lower back in a nerve cluster. When someone hits you there it shocks your whole system, making it hard to move.

After my barrage of hits to her back, I kicked the back of her left knee, forcing her on her knees. Then I grabbed the back of her head and slammed her down on the mat, just hard enough to knock her out and not cause serious damage.

After I got up from what I did to Eva, the fat one grabbed me from behind, putting his arms in between mine so that I can't move my arms. The hold allows someone to hit me, while also holding me up off the ground so I don't have any footing.

As I notice what the fat one is doing, I notice the Jamaican getting closer to me, cracking his knuckles to look intimidating. It's not working.

I wait until he gets close enough and kick him gently in the throat, enough to distract both him and the big guy long enough so that I can bang the back of my head against the big guy's chin. While it hurt like a bitch to me, it hurts even worse when you get hit in the chin like that, which makes him let me go in favor of rubbing his chin.

Once I'm free I grab both of them by the back of their heads and smash them together, again only enough not to do any serious damage to them. And while their shocked from the pain, still holding onto their heads; I punch the big one in the stomach and shove him on the ground. I then punch the Jamaican in chest which pushes him on the ground. You can't hit someone in the head after what I did to them because if you do it might do some real damage.

While big O was knocked out when he hit the mat, Jamaican Spice was not. So when he started getting up, I kicked him in the ribs, knocking him back down with him grabbing his sides in pain. Sorry man but you should have stayed down. After that I raise my hands in the air, waiting for the count.

**"AND DOWN GOES JAMAICIAN SPICE!" **hatchet says into the mic as he points to the arena.

**"EVERYONE START THE COUNT!"**

**"5. 4. 3. 2. 1!"**

**"AND THE WINNER AND STILL UNDEAFEATED!"**

**"THEEE GGGGRRRREEEENNNN HHHOOOODDDD!"**

_So how'd you guys like that? I would have written more but the fight is kind if a climax and if you write more than the climax in a chapter it doesn't really work that well. And if you're wondering how Duncan know this much about fighting it will come up later why. _

_And about how Courtney's taken this you'll find out soon enough. And here is my quote that I think goes with the chapts. Oh and I did rewrite it so that duncan is no longer the champion, I thought it would make the story more interesting. And you guy's will love or hate who is the champion now. I'll give you a hint; it's a cast member of the fourth season. Oh and I changed the quote I'll leave the original along with the new one so you can tell me which one is better._

"Regardless of how you feel inside, always try to look like a winner. Even if you are behind, a sustained look of control and confidence can give you a mental edge that results in victory."

-google


	4. The in between

_In the last chapter you might have noticed that I never used courntey's pov that's because I wanted to have it completely through duncan's eye's. also I told you that I could have kept going with the chapt and I stopped that's because the fight was the climax and if you write more than the climax It kind of screws up the story line a bit. This has been rewritten._

_I own nothing yadda yadda._

**DESPERATION**

**Chapter 4- The in Between**

Courtney's pov

**"GET READY FOR SOME BLOOD TONIGHT!"**

**"BECAUSE GH IS LOOKIN MADDDDD!"**

"Wha- Wha- What the hell!" I screamed at the top of my lungs. Although it didn't matter since only the people right next to me could hear my outburst because of the crowd going bonkers for the fight.

"Did you two know about this?" I screamed at Gwen remembering her suggestion about who I should date earlier today. What she said was almost identical to how Duncan looks now.

"No, how could we know this?" Gwen asked Looking like a deer staring at a cars headlights.

"Yeah, we're as shocked as you," said Bridgette defending her equally as freaked out goth counterpart.

I looked as angry as I possibly could at the until the announcer talked next.

**"ALRIGHT, ONE ROUND, LAST ONE STANDING WINS!" **said the announcer holding up one finger.

**"AAAANNNNDDD START."** The announcer hit a bell with a hammer. "DING"

"Uh, oh. We need to stop this thing now before Duncan gets hurt." Just as I said that "Eva" jumped at Duncan.

"Oh, I can't watch." I said out loud, putting my hands over my eyes, hearing a clang, probably Duncan being beaten against the cage.

"Courtney, open your eyes, you've gotta see this." One of my friends said but the crowd was too loud to tell which one it was.

I did what they said, expecting to see Duncan's broken body on the ground, but actually seeing both Eva and the JS on the ground next to the cage with Eva rubbing her head, while JS looked like he was just manhandled by a ghost.

After seeing Eva and JS on the ground I looked over to Duncan who was dodging Big O's punches effortlessly.

"How can he do that?" I demanded out loud slack jawed.

"How do you think? These fights are probably fake." Said one of my friends, still the crowd was too loud to tell witch one.

"Yeah, like professional wrestling, they probably practiced this." Gwen said with a smile on her face. I could tell this time because I looked who said it this time.

I took in what they said and it made sense, there was no way that Duncan, my boyfriend, Mr. boring, is capable of this unless it is fake. I was so relieved that I couldn't help but smile.

"Yeah, you're right. This has got to be fake." I said in a comforting sense of ignorance.

"ROOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAA!"

After hearing that I looked back at the cage to see Duncan jump up, swing down, and punch Big O right between the eyes. After which he fell on the floor on his back seemingly knocked out with his nose bleeding.

"Um, are you sure that this is fake?" I asked, looking at my friends with a confused look on my face. With them also having a confused look. "Because if it is, it's pretty elaborate, and they are pretty good actors." I said looking back at the stage with that comforting sense of ignorance I had fading.

Just as I was done saying that, Eva jumped again at Duncan, only this time she made contact and knocked him on the ground.

After the rolling stopped, ending with Eva on top of Duncan, sitting on his waist, Eva continuously punched him in the face. The more I see, the more the idea that this is fake seems less and less likely. But as I start to worry again, Duncan somehow uses his feet to get her off him, and then gets up himself. He goes over to her, rolls her over, grabs her left wrist, and puts her in a sort of lock I have only seen in cop shows.

After he has her in the lock, he starts hitting her in the lower back. As I watch this I look at the other fighters who are just standing there, not at all trying to help their fellow contender against Duncan.

Then I remember that the announcer said that the last one standing is the winner, and they must be more than happy to let the two most ferocious fighters take each other out.

As I was having my thought, I heard a loud bang and I turned back, only to see to see Eva face down on the floor unconscious… Hopefully. That sense of comfort completely gone now.

After Duncan was done with Eva, Big O came up behind him, put his arms in between Duncan's and lifted him up off the ground, leaving Duncan completely helpless to JS, who came walking over to them while cracking his knuckles.

As I watch this I put my hands over my mouth anticipating seeing Duncan about to be beat like a kid at the playground by bigger kids.

But just as JS is about to start punching, Duncan lifts his legs up and kicks JS in the throat. Part of me is demanding to know how Duncan could be so vicious, and part of me is just glad he is okay.

After Duncan kicks JS in the throat he bangs the back of his head against Big O's chin. After that Big O releases him to rub his chin. And as they are both distracted and probably in pain, Duncan grabs both of them by the back of the head and smashes them together.

As I hear the banging sound of their heads there is no doubt in my mind or my friends, as I can tell by their faces, that this is not fake.

While obviously in pain, JS and Big O are still standing holding they're probably throbbing heads. Duncan punches Big O in the stomach and shoves him on the ground, and he then punches the Jamaican in the chest which knocks him on the ground.

And just after that they both land on their backs on the floor. I can see JS trying to get up, only for Duncan to soundly kick him in the ribs, knocking him back down.

After that Duncan raises his hands in the air.

**"AND DOWN GOES JAMAICIAN SPICE!"**

**"EVERYONE START THE COUNT!"**

**"5. 4. 3. 2. 1." **The crowd and the announcer cheer.

**"AND THE WINNER AND STILL UNDEFEATED!" **

**"THEEE GGGGRRRREEEENNNN HHHOOOODDDD!"**

As Duncan leaves the arena Gwen, Bridgette, and I are still too shocked to notice the people in the crowd cheering and chanting Duncan's stage name. Soon after the people start leaving with only me, my friends, and a few other people left in this very large room with a stage. It is only when the same guy we met when we first came into this place started trying to talk to us that we moved.

"Oh man, that was the best one yet. How'd you three like it?"

As he looked at our shocked faces he asked, "First fight?"

Gwen was the first one to respond. "Um, yeah," she said still utterly shocked not even really looking at the guy just sort of staring blankly at the empty stage as were me and Bridgette.

"Oh, I remember my first fight; almost crapped my pants when I saw Zeus fighting Atom. But that was nothing compared to what just happened here. You guys must feel like you just had a stroke, and by looking at you, you might've." He said pointing at us.

Still paralyzed by what happened I heard Bridgette ask, "Who was that?"

"Oh, if you're asking about the winner, that's Green Hood. He's the best fighter in the whole circuit. He came here a while back and he hasn't lost yet."

"And if you're talking about the other three, they were new up and comers who have been here the last few weeks. Or thats what i've heard anyway. I guess they tried to make a name for themselves by trying to take on the rising star."

"wait is du-Green hood the champion?" asked Gwen.

The guy shook his head and said nonchalantly missing Gwen's almost slip up. "oh no that's 'storm' or 'thunder' or something. Personally I think he's a Douchebag, but he's the champ. Has been for a while, probably as long as GH has been here."

After hearing that I forced myself to speak. "Who are you and what is all of this?" I demanded.

"Oh, this is Vancouver fight club, where people go to see real live fighting where there are no rules, and the last man standing wins, WOOO WOOOO WOOOOO! YEAH!" He screamed waving his fist in the air like he was at a football game.

"And we don't give out names here, but you can call me Ty," he said wiggling his eye brows trying to hit on us. None of us were amused.

As I look at Ty I can tell he is around the same age as me and was obviously a jock in high school based on the way he talked and that he wore a red jump suit, and not to mention how he looked at us. And if I wasn't so shocked right now I'd be annoyed at this ass.

"Yeah, whatever. How long has this gone on for?" Gwen asked looking puzzled.

"Well, I don't know myself, but I have heard that this has been going on for the last few years. Maybe ten?" he said shrugging.

"And how often does this happen?"

"Oh, a few times a week."

"And the Green Hood does this every time?"

"Yeah, every time. But this has been the first time I've seen him fight three people at once. Usually the champ does that, but I guess since he didn't fight tonight they made GH do it. Good thing too because it is way more fun to watch GH fight than the champ."

I just can't believe what's happening here, I'm gonna lose my mind. My boyfriend is in a damn fight club, who does this multiple times a week, and has been doing it for 'a while'.

"_NNNNNAAAAAAAAHHHHH! Wha? How? Who? Nnnnnnnnaaaaahhaausshflsaj;mck_."I screamed in an outburst.

As I was doing that, Gwen and Bridgette grabbed me in the same lock that Big O had used on Duncan and started dragging me toward the exit.

"Um, we're gonna take her home. I think she's had too much excitement tonight."

"Ah, no probs. Just come back next week, that's when it starts up again." Ty said to us as I was dragged out of the building.

As we get to the car Bridgette gives me a paper bag to stop me from hyperventilating. I take it and start breathing into it.

"I… have… to… find… Duncan…" I said sounding a little saner but still hyperventilating in the paper bag.

"No, Courtney, if you get any more exited you're gonna pass out." One of my friends said rubbing my back.

"But-"

"No buts Court. And besides, the PDA says he's already heading back to the dorms. And it's almost 1:00 am and we have school tomorrow."

"I don't care; my classes are high enough that I can miss a day." I can't believe I just said that.

"No, Courtney, that's just the adrenaline talking. What you need is to go back to the dorms and go to bed." Bridgette said sternly.

I looked down, sad and angry, but I knew they were right.

"Nahh, fine!" I yelled as I was getting back into the car.

"Besides, you can always talk to him tomorrow after class."

After I heard that I smacked my head with my hand.

"Um, Court, do you want us to go with you to talk to him?" asked Bridgette.

"No, I can handle it myself." I said just barely controlling myself, which gwen and Bridgette could tell as the scooted away from me a little bit.

"Um, I don't think so Court. I mean, did you see what Duncan did to those three? And they were huge and probably psychotic." Said gwen. And what she said was true they did look psychotic. And once I thought about it I lost all of my anger, well most of it, and now I'm a little afraid. Maybe a little back up would be a good idea.

"Alright, you can come with me to get some answers after class, but let me do all the talking! He's still my boyfriend, at least until I know why he's doing this." I said as Gwen started up the car. I'm not driving because they forced me into the back seat with Bridgette. You can probably guess why.

XXX

Throughout my whole day all I could think about was Duncan. No matter what I did to try to get him out of my head; homework, debating, and even starting random arguments with total strangers, did nothing to get him out of my head.

All I wanted were answers like, why was he doing this? How did he start? Why is he still in school if he is doing that? It was driving me crazy.

During lunch, when my friends and I usually sit together with our bo's, to avoid Duncan I went back to the dorms and ate while Brig and Gwen did the usual. I asked them to lie about last night until we know what's going on.

I'm too concerned about myself to worry how they are taking it, but it looks like they are handling it better than me. But I did hear them ask Trent and Geoff if they were hiding something from them, but from the look on their guy's faces I'm pretty sure that they just thought that Gwen and Bridgette were asking that if they were cheating on them and not doing what Duncan is doing. After they saw the look on their boyfriends face they dropped the question.

I did my best to avoid Duncan the whole day, unable to face him alone because to be honest, I'm a little afraid of him now. Is that wrong? I just saw him beat up three humongous and scary looking people last night without so much as breaking a sweat.

And I know that going there with just my friends, who are no fighters, doesn't really help, but Gwen has her teaser fully charged, and that's got to count for something.

At around five or so, after school, Gwen, Bridgette, and I came by the dorms. Then I had a thought.

"What if someone tries to come in when we go see Duncan?" I ask.

"Yeah, someone's got to stay behind to make sure one of his fight club buddies doesn't come in and disturb us."

"Oh, no problem. I'll stay behind and keep watch," said Bridgette.

"You sure? I mean if they're as tough as Duncan…" I said sounding concerned.

"Oh, don't worry, I brought my pepper spray." She said pulling out a small tube showing it to us.

Gwen and I both looked at her confused. Ok why the hell does she have that? Better yet why don't I have that?

"What? You think I would date the frat king, a guy who is probably intoxicated all day, with no protection?" Asked Bridgette with a very smug look on her face.

"Um, okay, we'll tell you how it goes after, and we'll call you if we need any help." I said as both me and gwen leave Bridgette at the entrance of the building.

After Gwen and I go into the building we begin walking down the multiple connected hallways to Duncan's apartment. I see' a shadow to one side, but think nothing of it and Gwen asks. "So what are you gonna ask him?"

Me, having had all day to think about that, said, "I'm gonna ask him very calmly and quietly, _WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT LAST NIGHT? HOW'D YOU GET STARTED IN SOMETHING LIKE THAT, AND WHERE DO YOU GET-"_

"Okay, okay, relax Court. You don't want him to hear us coming." Gwen said trying to get me to calm down by rubbing my back.

"Fine." I said breathing deeply while walking to his room. We get there seconds later with me right in front of the door with Gwen right behind me.

"Alright, we're here." I said in front of the door.

"Duncan, open up now, its Courtney." I demanded pounding on the door without checking the door knob. There was no response to either the pounding or what I said which only pissed me off more.

"Duncan this is not funny! Open it now or I'll call the cops and tell them what you've been doing!" I said very much ready to follow through with my threat.

"Um, Court, do you even know if he is in there?" Gwen asked.

"Umm, no, but I am not leaving until I get some answers!" I said with a very stern look on my face.

"Well, have you even tried to open the door, as in checking the door knob?" gwen said pointing at the knob I forgot to check.

"Shut up!" I hissed putting my hand on the knob and turning it, pleasantly surprised to find out it is unlocked.

"Okay it's open, let's go in." I said to Gwen before opening the door. We both walk in but we see nothing. Duncan's dorm is very bear as he doesn't like to have much stuff. He said he was a minimalist when I asked him why. And since he doesn't have any roommates it has even less stuff.

"You see him?" Gwen asked walking to the kitchen while I go straight to his room to make sure he is there, only to find something horrible.

"Yeah, I found him!" I hollered to Gwen. Seeing Duncan fake sleeping on the floor laying on his back.

"Get up Duncan," I said angrily. Duncan did nothing in response. "Come on get up now." I said again only this time more angry and kicked him in the ribs not caring about what the doctor said. I'm just too mad right now.

"Come on Duncan, this isn't funny anymore! You owe me a few answers!" I yelled now getting even more pissed off.

"Um, you sure he's alright?" Gwen said kneeling down to Duncan and putting her head on his chest.

"I'm sure he's probably just faking, trying to get out of this hoping I'll just leave. Quit being so childish, and get up!" I screamed to Duncan, but as soon as I did Gwen shot up and turned to me looking like she had just seen someone die.

"Courtney, he's not breathing!" Gwen yelled, quite scarred.

"What?" I said with a blank face trying to process what she said.

"Call 911, I'll do CPR!" Gwen screamed to me as she breathed into Duncan's mouth and then started pumping Duncan's chest. I do as she said and take out my phone and dial the police.

"I called 911 and told them there is a student at Vancouver University that has stopped breathing; they said there would be an ambulance there in less than five minutes." I said to Gwen as she kept pumping Duncan's chest.

"Just hold on Duncan, stay alive long enough to tell me what's going on, you owe me that much." I said weakly.

_So ha did I disappoint? Don't worry Duncan will be alright, or will he hmmmmm? You'll find out next time. I made very few alterations to this chapter but I made it a little more clear that Duncan is not the champion and I gave a little more clues as to who he is. And now the quote._

"Live your own life, for you will die your own death"

Latin Proverb quotes


	5. WTF

_for the last few chapts I've been doing one in courtney's one in duncan's that won't happen this time like before it will mainly be in a third characters pov, also ty was obviously Tyler, announcer is obviously chef, and Harold is well Harold. Also all except Duncan look like their td self's. Duncan doesn't because he has no piercings, and if you want answers just read and see._

_This has been rewritten and I own nothing, enjoy._

**DESPERATION**

**Chapter 5: WTF**

Harold's pov

Somewhere around 9:00 pm

"Whatever, just give us the PDA so we can find him." The scary lawyer girl said to me with her hand stretched out waiting for me to give her my beloved PDA.

"You sure you want to go over there?"

"I'm sure. Just give us the thing already."

"Fine, just give it back later, okay?" I said giving them my PDA and I started to walk away. i turned around and saw them getting into their car and driving away.

"Man, those chicks are crazy going to the west side, they will probably be raped when they get there. I feel sorry for that bossy lawyer chick having an abusive boyfriend like that jerk that backed into me." As I said that it reminded me of something, but I can't remember what it was.

Okay, let's retrace my steps. He backed into me, oh, right, duh, complaint.

"Alright, now that I can't give a formal complaint… What am I gonna do?" I asked out loud with my hand on my chin while walking.

"Eureka! I remember now. I'll go to the school service desk and make the complaint." I said with my eyes closed with my index finger pointing up. After I said that, I walked to my car with my eyes closed. I accidentally walked into a fire hydrant right between my nether regents.

"Ow, my nether regents!" I screamed painfully. I looked around to see the frat king and his god awful musician friend laugh and point at me.

"Ha ha ha ha ha. Dork!" said the musician guy while walking away with the blond party guy.

As I watch them enjoy my moment in pain, I also listen to them talk about their girlfriends and saying their names. "Bridgette and Gwen" that's what the lawyer chick said her friends names where, and if their friends with each other along with their girlfriends, that means they're probably tight with Duncan. Hopefully by giving my complaint to the school I can also get back at them.

As the pain in my crotch goes away and the losers leave, I start to get up and head toward my van to drive off toward the campus.

XXX

After I park and head into the building, I walk into the corridor that has the student service desk. I see the Dean there talking, probably hitting on the beautiful secretary. The Dean is leaning on the counter of the desk, and the secretary is trying her best to try and seem interested.

Gosh, that guy thinks he's such a player. He hits on, like, all the female staff members and some of the students. I once heard that he almost had to resign from the school because of all sexual harassment complaints, which I don't know how he got out of. 

He always sucked with the ladies, but no matter how many times he was told, or how many times he got slapped, he would never admit it. Even now the secretary looks like she's going to puke.

I was tempted to go over there and try to interrupt, but it was just too good to not listen to. So I hide behind the corner of the wall and listen.

"Hey baby, like my hair and how blown back it is, or how about the new suit? Just got it at Suit Wear," he said pointing at each thing he said.

Oh yeah, did I mention he was a complete narcissist with a huge ego? He talks about himself all the time. He will actually interrupt a conversation just to talk about himself and how great he is. You mention one thing that isn't positive about him, and he will go berserk, giving you extra home work, yelling at you, and if you work here at the campus, he will make you work extra shifts with no pay. I swear he is a total sadist.

"Soooo babe, how about it? You and me go some place and 'chat'?" He asked her, ignoring the fact that she is actually holding back vomit.

I could take it no more. "Um, excuse me; I would like to make a complaint." I said walking to the counter. The Dean was somewhat mad at me for interrupting his failing attempts at seduction, while the glorious secretary looked at me like I was a gift from god.

"Am I interrupting something?" I asked the dean who was giving me a death glare, I shrugged it off.

"No, no nothing at all, now what is it that you were talking about?" Asked the secretary, probably happy that her torture with the Dean is over.

"Yes, I would like to make a complaint. A student backed into me today and refused to pay for it." I said as the dean lost interest and started walking away.

"Um, okay, what is the student's name?" Asked the secretary looking even more relieved seeing the Dean walking away, while she was waiting to type in the jerks name.

"His name is Duncan, he owns a black Ford Focus." I said seeing the dean looking back looking really surprised for some reason. He then started coming back to where me and the secretary were.

"Um, excuse me young man, what was his last name?" He asked getting a little too close to me for my liking.

"Um, I don't know his last name, but I can describe him. He is, like, 5 foot 10, has skinny legs, and wears a black cap." I said thinking I was stupid coming here without knowing his last name.

"Oh, I think I know who you're talking about. Miss Jefferson, please scratch his name form the complaint, and young man don't worry I'll take care of it myself." The Dean said walking off to wherever.

As I watch him walking away the secretary says, "Oh thank you for that sugar. I'm pretty sure he would have tried to get me in that supplies closet so he could try to feel me up." She said looking mostly grossed out, but still a little mad.

"Normally I wouldn't let anybody get away with that, but he's the Dean and I really need this job to pay off my student loans." She said looking sad. Can't blame her for that hell I don't know how I'd take it.

"I know, that guy is a total creep," I said looking really pissed off. "Hey what's your name?" I ask wanting to know who this enchanting woman is.

"Oh, name's LeShawna Jefferson, and who are you skinny?" She asked with what I was hoping an interested look.

"My name is Harold McGrady," I said looking back to her. "And if you need anybody to come by to distract him, tell me, okay?" I offered seeing her giggle and pull out a piece of paper.

"Oh, I think I will sugar, here's my number if I ya need any help in the office, or just for fun." She said looking at me with a smile.

"Okay... Um, thanks." I said walking off back to my car and going back to the dorms. Sweet!

XXX

Gosh, when is the dean gonna do something to Duncan? I know that last night was pretty late, but still I am outraged that a guy like him, someone who works at the west side, probably a mugger or a thief, gets off scot-free.

As I look around I can see that Duncan is walking toward the waste basket with his empty tray after eating alone and reading a newspaper. After he turns around to leave the cafeteria I could see a black eye on him, which he probably got trying to mug some girl last night.

I look over to the other side of the cafateria, I can see Courtney obviously trying to hide from him from behind a wall and then leaving with her food out the side entrance.

That jerk. She's probably the girl that he mugged, his own girlfriend. I am so mad I almost don't care that the most beautiful girl gave me her phone number last night. Almost.

After I see them both leave I go over to the Dean as he is trying to steal a cupcake from a student.

"Hey Dean, when are you gonna do something about Duncan like you said you would?" I asked pointing a finger at him as he took his first bite of the chocolate chip cupcake. The student he stole it from is looking really pissed off at the dean. The dean chews the bite he just took a few times and is staring right back at the student he stole it from just to rub it in. He then swallows and looks at me only half interested.

"Don't worry about it, I'll take care of it after classes today." he said throwing the cupcake into the garbage after only one bite, deliberately in front of the student he stole it from and then walked away.

After he said that I thought about how much I wanted to be there to hear the Dean chew him out about how to drive and hopefully have his job come up.

Then I remembered about my latest assignment I have in micro engineering; about how to make and then test out a nano-microphone. I already made it in the class and using it to listen in on what was going to happen this afternoon was almost perfect.

But I needed to know where Duncan's room is in the dorms to plant the bug. Then I also remembered LeShawna's phone number. I immediately started dialing.

After a few rings she picked up. "Yeah baby, LeShawna's here, what you want?" She asked in a sassy and very sexy way.

"Um, do you know where Duncan 'Evan's" room is? The Dean's gonna go there and chew him out and I want to be there to see it." I said remembering his name I found out last night.

"That's mean Harold, you sure?"

"Oh, I'm sure. That guy is a jerk. I'm pretty sure he got in a fight with his girlfriend last night."

"Oh, then no problem. Here is his address," she said reading off the address with no hesitation.

"Hey, thanks. Hey, later you wanna go do something? Like catch a movie or something?" I asked really nervous hoping she'll say yes.

"Oh, no problem sugar-bear. We'll go see Sitters this Friday. That sound alright?" sweet she said yes!

"Yeah, yeah, no problem." I said really excited. LeShawna, hearing my excitement, started giggling and then hang up.

XXX

"Okay, now that I'm here, where can I put this bug so that he won't see it, but will hear everything that is happening?" I asked out loud looking around seeing nothing, but his standard desk, bed, and his dresser. Wow this place is bear. he deosn't even have a TV.

"Wow, this guy didn't really like decorating the place." I also said out loud. Until I look up and see the ceiling fan.

"Ah, perfect." I said turning it off and grabbing a box to stand on, then putting the bug right behind one of the lights.

After I planted the bug I left the apartment and headed back to mine and waited for the eventual chew out.

XXX

_Somewhere around 5:10 pm_

"Oh, oh, what?" I said waking up from my nap on my desk, half of my face covered in drool, the other side covered in spare parts and I didn't have class after lunch, I spent the rest of my time until the end of the day tinkering with my gadgets for class and thinking about my eventual date with LeShawna. i must have fallen asleep. i was only woken up by the sirens outside.

"What is that noise?" I ask listening to the loud sirens as I walk over to my window and look outside.

After I opened up the shades I notice an ambulance at the dorms entrance carrying out what looks like a dead man and then them stuffing him in said ambulance. "Okay, what's going on?" I asked while heading down there.

XXX

As I walk toward the dorms entrance I could see the ambulance taking off. I also see, I think, "Gwen" and Bridgette" talking to Courtney.

"It's okay Courtney, I'm sure he's fine." Said the goth one.

"Yeah Vancouver's got some of the best hospitals in Canada." The blonde one said rubbing the back of the crying Courtney.

"Um, excuse me what's going on?" I ask those three. After which country started balling even more, while the other two look at me really annoyed.

"**Duncan's heart stopped!**" Courtney screamed.

"What?"

"Yeah, that's what the paramedic yelled when they first found him in his room, after which they had to defibrillate him, or something, to get his heart moving again. It was horrible," said the Blonde one.

"When did this happen? How?" I said freaked out.

"We found him like that about 10 minutes ago, and then we called the ambulance. They came about 5 minutes ago, and then they asked us some questions."

Wait, if that happened like what 15 minutes ago and school ended like 20 minutes ago… Oh man, what did the dean do?

"What kind of questions did the doctors ask you?"

"_Oh, who cares? I've gotta get to the hospital now!"_ Screamed Courtney starting to hyperventilate.

"Courtney, you can't. Your car's all the way on the other side of the campus, and you can barely breathe, and besides, it's too low on gas to get us to the hospital."

"Oh, we can take my van." I said trying to sound helpful while they looked at me suspicious.

"Why would you want to go?" The blonde one asked giving a paper bag to Courtney.

"Because this is super interesting." I said to them, hoping they were gonna buy it, but I really want to know what the Dean did.

"I still don't know-" The goth one said, but before she could finish Courtney interrupted.

"Oh, who cares? We have to get there now!" Screamed the frantic one.

"Aright, fine. Where is it?"

"It's right over there." I pointed at my pride and joy while walking toward it. The three girls fallow me.

"That figures," said the two not hyperventilating girls, as they look at my Star Wars decorated van. I got into the driver's seat and the goth one got into the passenger's seat as Courtney and the blonde one got into the back seat.

As we got in, one of them asked, "Do you even know how to get to the hospital?"

"Yeah, I do. I installed a GPS in my van. It was super easy all I had to do was-"

_"Shut up and drive YOU IDIOT!" _screamed courtney which made me start up my van and race out of the parking lot.

XXX

As we got in to the hospital, Courtney ran to what was I assume was the same paramedic as the one in the ambulance.

"What happened? Is Duncan okay?" asked courtney to the EMT. The EMT turned to her while getting a bag out of the ambulance.

"Yes, we restarted his heart in the ambulance; he's resting in one of the patient rooms," he said nonchalantly, which really pissed off Courtney.

"Okay, did you find out what caused it?" I asked hoping to find out what happened.

"Sorry can't tell you doctor/patient confidentiality." The paramedic stated walking away from us.

Courtney ran up in front of him and gave him a look that would make a rabid pitbull fallover and die from sheer terror. "Tell us, please."

"Ah okay, he was exposed to some mild electricity, probably from some bad outlet in his dorm room."

"What? And that stopped his heart? Can outlets even do that?" Asked Courtney.

"Well, normally, no, but considering that his body was severely fatigued from both his injuries and the severe lack of sleep, combined with the stress, that I can only guess that he's been under lately, his heart could just barely handle the strain. That shock was what finally shut it down."

As we all look at him with shocked, I wonder. What was injured? How bad? And what did the Dean do to him?

"By the way, who are you people?" The paramedic asks us, the girls being too shocked to say anything I say, "We're his friends, and we came to check up on him."

"Well, if you're his friends, you're pretty bad ones for letting him go through all that and just now taking him here." The EMT said looking angry at us.

"He's in there asleep; you can go see him tomorrow during visiting hours." The doctor said walking away.

"What happened? He was shocked by an outlet? He was nowhere near an outlet! What happened?" screamed courtney. Gosh this girl has some real yelling problems.

As she screamed that, I remembered my bug and then checked my pocket for my PDA, hoping that since almost all of my spy gadgets are wired through it I could find out myself. But then I remembered I let these three borrow it and if I want to know what happened I have to let them know too.

"Hey, let me see my PDA. It might know what happened."

"How would it know?" the blonde one said giving me the stink eye.

"I planted a bug in Duncan's room." I confessed.

"Why did you plant a bug in his room?" asked the blonde one again. Obviously she's the inquisitive one.

"Oh, who cares? Just show us what happened!" Courtney said taking out my PDA from her pocket and handing it to me.

"Okay, fine, gosh!" I said as they gave me the PDA back. I then looked for my file of the bug.

"Okay, found it. Let me put it on speaker."

"_Ah, finally, day's done," _said Duncan relived.

_Oh sorry you guys just gonna have to wait until next time. And I used Harold for this chapter because like chapter 1 this chapt was meant as a framing device setting up other romances, people, and making the way for the important things. Quote time:_

"Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional."

Google.


	6. And Now You Know Part I

_Ok for the last few chapters you might have noticed that I do I person's pov for the entire chapter while the next chapter its another person's pov but at the same time as the other chapts before and I'm sorry about that in the future I will try to not do that, also any suggestions would be appreciated on how to write this thing and how would you like it, I'm still new to writing. Up till now you might have noticed that there is little to no actual romance in this fic even though it says romance as one of the genre's well its commin and there will be some in this one I guarantee it. You might also noted I talked a little weird last chapt and well,,, it was in harolds pov and he talks weird in the show and I wanted it to be like that._

**DESPERATION**

**Chapter 6. And Now You Know Part I**

DUNCAN'S POV

"Ah, finally the day's done," I said relived, walking into my dorm room. I then pull out my phone to see if I have any messages, but again it doesn't have any signal. Ok weird.

"What the hell, you broken?" No this is a disposable phone, I just bought the damn thing. No something's gotta be giving off interference.

"Or did that bug still work?" I asked, checking my hoodie pocket for the first time since I found it. As soon as I grab it I pull it out and I can see that the thing is dead, must be out of power.

"No, that's out of juice. Than why is my phone not working? It always has before in here… what are the odds that the same guy put another one in here to spy on me? Jesus, I really wish i could call the police. Whatever i'll find out who this guy is eventually." I said out loud looking around for where the other bug was. I looked around my desk, my bed. I really don't have that much stuff, and I can't find it. Frustrated I sit down on my bed and sigh.

"I'm too tired for this crap right now. I then lay down on my back and look up at the ceiling and when I do I see another blinking red chip in my ceiling fan.

"Ah, found you," I said smirking. I then get up from my bed, walk over to the fan and just pull it off. What the hell am I going to do with these things. I ask myself looking at the two bugs that guy planted on my car and in my dorm. "whatever." I say putting the old dead one back into my hoodie pocket, but before I put the other in there too there is really something this idiot needs to hear.

"Dude you're really bad at hiding stuff, and you really need to stop doing this and just so you know i will find you, thats a promise. You hear me? Yeah, I know you're listening. If I catch you doing this again you and I are gonna have a nice long chat!" I said half threateningly, don't want him to over react and call the cops. That won't work out for anyone. I then put the chip in my hoodie pocket with the other one.

"I'm sorry, who are you gonna have a chat with, Duncan?" The Dean asked opening my door, looking overly curious and arrogant as usual. He then walks in along with his body guard; Hatchet Well this afternoon keeps getting better.

The Dean is wearing an overpriced dark navy blue pinstripe suite with a black tie along with blown back black wavy hair. Altogether he has a look that can only be described as 'compensating' for something. Hatchet was out of his wannabe army chef outfit and is wearing a similar suite as the Dean only without the pinstripes.

"Nobody? And what are you doing here? Don't you have some baby to steal from, a puppy to kick, or some poor girl to hit on, who'll throw up after?" I asked smugly pointing my finger at him and god he is so pissed. Hatchet is not looking to happy himself.

"No one talks to me like that." The Dean said calmly, but threateningly, before grabbing the same wrist of the hand I used to point at him firmly in an attempt to intimidate me. It just makes me want to laugh.

"Except me, because I can." I replied defiantly while pulling my arm free. In doing so the Dean gets pulled with my arm before he lets go, which messes up his overpriced hair making him even angrier.

"Watch your mouth kid! Or I'll-" The Dean tried to threaten, but was interrupted.

"_What_? You'll do what?" I asked cutting him off. The Dean didn't respond, but looked pissed as hell. Hatchet seeing this as a threat walks up closer to me and growls of all things to try and intimidate me. I just ignored him and continued.

"That's what I thought. You haven't answered my question, why are you here?" I asked placing the bugs that guy hid on my stuff under my phone while trying to back him even more into a mental corner.

"Some guy came to the service desk to make a complaint, twerp, and I was forced to cover for you. That's why I'm here." The Dean said regaining his composer and arrogant expression while fixing his hair. Dude's got a serious obsession with his hair.

"_And_?" I asked walking over to my dresser and placing my phone on top of it in a way that he wouldn't see the chips.

"_And_ I'm here to tell you to be more careful. We don't want some sci fi geek ruining my little operation." The Dean said not caring what I was doing, but looking even more arrogant than before if that's possible.

"Don't worry, he's harmless. Now tell me the real reason why you're here." I said not buying his story one bit walking back in front of him.

"Alright, fine, I'm here because of the fight." The dean admitted.

"What about it? I won." I said to him and the moment I did, Hatchet sneered at me, but like before I just ignored him.

"Yes, but you ended it too soon, and you hardly got hurt. Did you forget our deal? I let you into my school if you compete in my fights and make them last. " The Dean said now pointing at me completely serious.

"Hey, you did make it last sending me to fight those three freaks." I said staring right into his eyes to show that was not happy. Not one bit. Hatchet also seeing this as a threat walks up to me and tries to push me away but the dean stops him from doing so. Probably thought it would be bad form.

"You know that's not what I mean Duncan. By last, I mean you or them getting the crap beaten out of eachother! Not just knocked out after a few minutes. The crowd loves beatings, the bigger and longer the beatings the more people show up. The more people show up, the more money I make."

"yeah well in real MMA its not about beating someone its about winning." I said defending the sport from this sadistic bastard.

" Like I care. Do you want me to end our deal and have you kicked out of this school, and back to where I found you? Just barely scrapping by; surviving off food stamps and ramen noodles everyday while squatting in some condemned building like a rat." The dean asked just as arrogantly as before while walking up to me slowly to further serve the point. Hatchet smiles at his remark.

Just hearing this is pissing me off in ways I thought only my dad could do before; I am not going back to that. But being angry will not help now so I take a deep breath and calm down. I stand my ground and I say, "Oh, ya' really gonna throw out your number one money maker and go back to how it was before you found me? Ya' remember what that was like? Right? 'just barely scrapping by' hardly making enough to pay the rent on the place. Let alone the wages for the security and the contestants. You really wanna go back to that?" I countered smugly.

Having had enough of my attitude and frustrated that he can't outsmart me or threaten me into submission, he rushes toward me, grabs my hoodie at the collar with both hands and screams, _"I own you, you do what I say!"_

Not having been intimidated, I smack his hands off of me and grab him by the suit collar, when I do Hatchet tries to separate me but is stopped by the dean. Not really caring why I say angrily, "_No, you don't!_ I'm the only one in the college or the fights you don't own, or scare, and never will." I then push him back a few feet and he is caught by Hatchet who stands him up straight.

"And if you want me to make the fights last, how about you not make me fight three guys at a time, or make me practice all night when I'm not fighting, or it'll just keep happening. And ya' wanna know why? _Because I can't handle it anymore!"_

"On top of having to deal with your crap with the fights, I have to deal with all the homework your professors give me because I actually want to have a life! So I haven't slept in weeks! I can barely drive because of that! That's why I backed into that guy_, I actually fell asleep backing up!"_

"I almost died going to the last fight because I almost fell asleep on the road and crashed into a car! And the only way for me to let off some steam is to take it out on the other fighters. _So if you want the fights longer, I suggest you give me some room to breathe_!" I said threateningly pushing him out of my room. The dean was so shocked at me standing up to him that he doesn't respond. Hatchet; having enough comes at me and grabs my hoodie collar like the dean did before with one hand as the other grabs my shoulder, while he stairs me down.

We continue our stair down for a second but I then turn back to the Dean and continue. "Oh, and thanks to the die job you made me get, I have to wear this itchy hat all day." I said angrily grabbing my hat and throwing it on the ground.

The dean looking too shocked and angry to say anything, so he just stands there.

"Well, if that's it, get out of my sight and out of my place. I'll 'try' to keep it interesting in the fight next week okay McClain?" I said jerking myself free from Hatchet and walking back into my room, turning my back to the dean and his body guard.

"Oh, Duncan," said the dean.

"Yeah, what?" I asked turning around seeing Hatchet pulling out a Taser gun and pointing it at me.

"Whatcha gonna do with that? Shoot me?" I asked not at all intimidated.

"Actually, yes," he said before his body guard pulled the trigger it hit me square in the chest.

"Zuzzuuzzuzuzuuuzuzuzuzuzuu." I involuntarily 'said' in excruciating pain and then fell on the ground unable to move or talk.

"It's Dean to you, and if you're tired why don't you rest?" He said smiling at my pain, obviously enjoying it.

"Zuzuzuzuuzuzuzuzuzzu." I said after the dean gave Hatchet an order to shock me again.

Hatchet pulled the wires off of me and rolled them back into his gun. "Oh, and you better make those fights 'interesting', or well, you get the idea," the dean said in what I can only assume is smugly as everything goes black.

Having a past like mine and a current part of a fight club, I've been passed out before, but this seems different. It's hard to describe, but it's just different. Usually when something like this happens I still feel some pain, but now I don't feel anything. Huh must be in shock… Or it could be that…

'Should I even care?' I ask myself. I got nothing to live for, having to live through all this pain. Who cares if McClain killed me? _Wait_!

'McClain _killed me_. No way did a lowlife like McClain kill me. I'm gonna live and whoever _is_ gonna kill me is _not_ gonna be him. Not like that' I thought trying to fight this.

"Duncan, Duncan, wake up." I heard someone say.

I opened my eyes a little bit to see blurred versions of Gwen giving me CPR, while Courtney is on her phone, both, I hope, calling an ambulance and yelling at me. I then close my eye's again.

The next thing I see are blurred versions of paramedics picking me up and putting me in a stretcher and rolling me to the ambulance.

When they got me to the ambulance they start doing medical procedures on me, you know checking my vitals like my heart and my lungs to see if they're working. They say something, but I can't make out what they're saying. Then they get out the defibrillator and place the pads on my chest.

_PUMP_, I felt it. It felt kind of like the Taser, only it didn't hurt as bad. They say something again and hit me again with the defibrillator.

_PUMP_. Okay, that one hurt. Good sign. After that I could hear everything.

"Okay, his heart is working again, don't worry, buddy, you're gonna be fine." They said trying to comfort me, it worked.

"How'd this happen?"

"Apparently he was exposed to some electricity."

_'No shit Sherlock_.' I thought as I started passing out.

XXX

_Two days later during visiting hours at the hospital_

I woke up in a hospital room with my clothes gone and in a hospital gown, with an IV into my arm. I then look around and see that I'm in a hospital room. I then see that there is a set of buttons on the arm rest of my hospital bed, and I press the doctor button. A few minutes later a doctor came in, I think the same one from a few days ago when Courtney took me here. Then he said,

"Hello Mr. Evens, how are you doing today?"

"Um, fine, I guess. How long have I been in here?"

"Approximately two days, Mr. evens. That was some bad outlet." He said smiling, probably trying to practice his bed side manner. Which needs some major improvement by the way.

"Outlet?" I asked confused. What the hell is he talking about?

"Yes, that was where you got the electricity from, right? That's what stopped your heart?" he asked with a half confused face.

"Wait, my _heart stopped_!"

"Yes, yes it did. Do you remember what happened?"

"Um, no." I lied, but I need to know what they think they know.

"Oh, well… Um, from what we can tell you must've touched some bad outlet and shocked yourself and that's what caused the heart attack. We restarted your heart in the-"

"Wait, a _heart attack_ from an outlet? Do they even have that kind of juice."

"Normally they don't, Mr. Evens, but the electricity along with your injuries and a high level of stress caused your heart to fail. And I must say, you are a fighter sir. Because by the time we got to you most people would have been beyond the point of no return."

"Eh, it's no big deal, there's no way I'm dying at twenty."

The doctor chuckled at this and continued. "You're also quite the healer, after a two day nap most of your injuries are completely healed, even your heart is perfectly healthy. But just the same we're going to keep you overnight just to be sure, and you should probably thank the two girls for that."

"Um, what?" I asked confused at what he said.

"Those two girls, 'Gwen' and 'Courtney', I think their names were."

"Really, how'd they save me?" I asked forgetting that part honestly.

"Why don't you ask them yourself? They've been coming every day during visiting hours, today should be no different." The doctor said leaving the room. "I'll go get them, and I'll leave you alone," he said before I had a chance to answer.

"No, that's-" I tried to say but the door was already closed. Great. I then layed back into my hospital bed and waited for the eventual ear hole fucking.

COURTNEY'S POV

I was sitting in the lobby waiting for the doctor to come tell me if Duncan has woken up yet. I'm here alone today because I told Gwen, Bridgette, and I don't know why, but Harold, not to come because one, I didn't know if Duncan would wake up today or not, and two, because I wanted to do this myself.

The four of us came here the first two days to see if Duncan was alright and each time we were told that Duncan was fine, but sleeping and recovering from both his heart attack and from fatigue. I still can't believe it. I know I said this before, but 'Duncan', Mr. Boring, my boyfriend, is in a fight club, or 'MMA' sorry, and has been for months, and the 'rising star' for the majority of that time.

On top of all that he has a green fohawk. After I asked Bridgette about the fohawk thing, I asked Harold why he put the bug in Duncan's room. He said something about getting back at him by doing it, and then after dropping us off he scampered away like he was trying to hide something, but I didn't care at the moment. All I wanted to know from anyone were answers from Duncan.

"Excuse me, Miss Sanchez, he's awake and ready for you."

"Um, thanks doctor… So how is he?" I asked concerned and putting back the magazine that I was barely reading on the lobby table where I found it. I then get up and fallow the doctor to duncan's room.

"Physically, he's perfectly fine, but he 'claims' he doesn't know what happened." The doctor continued while walking.

"Do you think he's trying to hide something?"

"Miss, I've been a doctor for about 15 years. I've helped many people with many things and in many of those cases I've had patients try to lie to me about how they got their injuries. Sometimes they lied obviously and sometimes they were good at it, but by now it is almost impossible to lie to me, especially about injuries."

"So what do you think he is lying about?"

"Well, I know he's lying about where the electricity came from, but that's about it. He doesn't remember you and your friend reviving him, or the ride and stay here."

"So where do you think the electricity came from?"

"I can't tell you that, but I can tell you it didn't come from an electrical outlet because I can tell that he was hit in the chest with the electricity."

"Who else knew about that? The paramedics or-"

"No, just me. After the paramedics restarted his heart they gave him to me to look over and no one else has any idea. No, I'm the only one and since it has been deemed to be a home related accident, the authorities were not involved."

"Wait, since it wasn't caused by the outlet, why aren't you going to report it?"

"The chief of medicine himself has ordered me not to as of this morning."

"Why?"

"I don't know, he just did."

"Hey arn't you breaking Doctor/ patient confidentility?" i asked.

"Oh i am but i have my reasons." He said to me as he opens the door to duncan's room. i give him a look but then i walk in.

_Well that's it for this chapter. Oh and just to make it clear the dean is Chris.I thought he would make a good antagonist and yes he paid or blackmailed the chief of medicine. _

"A hospital bed is a parked taxi with the meter running."

Groucho Marx quotes


	7. And Now You Know Part II

_Ok so last time I said that there would be romance well I'm sorry and I will try to and put some in here, actually it has to considering this is the first chapt after court finds out about duncan's job they will be shoved in a room for a while. Oh and it is still two hours for visiting hours. Now I may not know writing but I do know television and how a TV show should be run so I try to write like it's a TV show and I know it's a little unorthodox but its how I roll. Enjoy. _

_This chapter has been rewritten, I own nothing_

**DESPERATION**

**Chapter 7: And Now You Know Part II**

DUNCAN'S POV

I'm sitting in my hospital bed waiting for the doc to bring courtney to me and I gotta say I'm annoyed as hell right now, after everything that's happened the last few days and now I've got to listen to courtney scream at me. Knowing her the second she gets in here she'll probably yell her lungs out at me for not telling her how I got hurt, and she'll probably say that me getting shocked served me right.

I'm probably going to have to break up with her before she gets too close to the truth and I get sent back to jail. I don't really want to though. I don't know why but it was kinda nice having someone in my life not involved with the fight club. Even if it was the ragaholic courtney. Oh well its probably for the best.

As I think that the door opens up with the doc holding it open for courtney and she walks in. As soon as she does the doc closes the door on her. She looks back at the door to check and then looks at me with an almost concerned look.

"Hey Courtney. How ya doin'?" I asked not knowing what else to say while in the hospital bed.

"Fine, how're you doing?" she asked with her arms crossed and staring at me a little annoyed or angry or whatever that look is when you go see your boyfriend in the hospital after he did something stupid.

"After I got my rest, better that I have in a long time." I honestly said while stretching.

"That's good, that's good… Um, what happened?" she said with the same look as she came in.

"I touched a bad outlet." I said hoping she would buy it, BUT she's not that stupid. She's not hot enough for me for me just to date her for her looks, no girl is.

"Ah huh, yeah, okay, another question: how'd you get hurt in the first place?" She asked with her arms still crossed.

"I got mugged." I said remembering my cover story.

"You got mugged?" she asked still in accusing position.

"Yeah, I got mugged about a week ago, and I didn't want you to worry!" I said with my best poker face.

"Alright, one last question, what do you do?"

"What do you mean?" I asked a little scared at her question but still kept up my best famous card game face that I had before.

"Your job, Duncan, where do you work?" she asked still in her same position, wow I think this is the longest I've seen her calm, which can't be good.

"I work at a store." I just pulled out of my ass.

"At night?" she asked looking a little confused but still with her arms crossed.

"Yeah, I have the graveyard shift."

"You're a good liar, I'll give you that, Duncan." She said closing her eyes and unfolding her arms.

"What are you talking about?" I asked giving my very best poker face, hoping she was just trying to get me to confess to something by telling me I was lying. Ma' tried that all the time.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about, you-you- I don't even know what to call you!" She shouted.

"Easy, calm down there, princess. I'm the one in the hospital; shouldn't I be the one going crazy?" I said trying to distract her with my arms up defensively.

"Shut up, and tell me what really happened!" she said looking very mad while pointing at me.

"I don't know wha-" I tried to say but was interrupted.

"I know you were in that warehouse on the west side, Duncan!"

Oh crap. "That's where I work. It only looks like a warehouse, it's actually a store."

"Enough of this crap! I was there Duncan! I saw you fight those "freaks", I saw your Mohawk! I know what you've been doing!"

I stay silent and just look at her. There is really nothing for me to say to her at this point.

"What? No lie on the top of your head that you can use to try to get me to stop asking questions? Well, too bad, you're telling me what's going on now!" She shouted as outraged as anyone could possibly be.

"And what if I don't feel like telling?"

"Then I'll call the cops and tell them everything I know." She said putting her hand in her purse to make it look like she was getting her phone.

"You got no proof, so why don't you just forget what you saw and-"

"I heard what happened in your dorm room!"

"What?"

"I heard everything that happened in your dorm room. You, the fights, the dean, him blasting you, everything." She said this while waving her hands.

"How could you possibly know?" I asked with a confused face.

"You know Harold, that nerd that you backed into? Well he bugged your room, and when we first came to the hospital he let us hear the recording."

"Oh". Oh crap this won't end well.

"Yeah, and you can either tell me about what's going on, or I'll just go to the cops and show them the tape." She said taking out her phone for real and opening it with a smug look, probably thinking she won.

"Ah, no you can't. He put that bug there against my knowledge and without a warrant from a judge, so it wouldn't stand up in court." I said smugly, thank god for my many, many lesions from my lawyer.

After I said that she is silent for a few seconds probably trying to think of something she can use to further her argument. "Nah! Just tell me Duncan, please," she said in a defeated voice looking pretty dam sad. God dammit I hate it when girls look at me like that! I thought. Heh, why not tell her just enough so that she wouldn't dig anymore into it.

"Fine. A few months ago the dean came to me with an offer, one that I really couldn't refuse." I started.

"And I suppose that offer was being part of that sick game!" she said in her standard chewing out position, hands on her hips.

"Don't be so quick to judge princess." I said a little pissed off pointing at her.

"Oh? And why not?" She asked in a very condescending way.

"Alright, fine! Have it your way! But let me ask you this question princess: how did you get into college? And why this one in particular."

"I chose this college because it has one of the best reputations and law practices in Canada, and how I got in, is that I was the top of my class and valedictorian." She said looking pretty dam arrogant, god I just had to date the chick with the superiority complex, just my luck with women.

"So they accepted you right out of high school, right?" I continued.

"Yes, yes they did. But I fail to see how this is relevant to what we-" she tried to say but was interrupted.

"I was the valedictorian too, Court." I said completely serious.

"What?" she barely said with a completely shocked face.

COURTNEY'S POV

"What?" I said completely shocked.

"Yes, I was the valedictorian in my school too. So cut the crap, and tell me how you really got into this college!" He demanded. He can't be serious I thought.

"That is how I got into college, Duncan." I said having no idea where he was going with this.

"Okay, then tell me about your parents. What were they?" He asked completely serious.

"They were lawyers. So?"

"Soooo, you had connections and money. Me, my parents didn't. My parents were ordinary people, who didn't have a lot of money and didn't really have friends in high places. So when I got out of high school I had nowhere to go. No college would accept me no matter how smart. I was just some regular guy with not a lot of cash, and in this economy that's all that colleges want."

After hearing what he said I felt kind of sorry for him. But then I remembered. "Okay, then what does the dean have to do with this?" I asked still trying to figure out if he was lying to me.

"He asked me to compete in his 'games', and if I do I am be allowed to go to his college."

"How did he find you?"

"A few months ago I heard about this fight club and I heard that it paid even if you lost. So I tried my luck, and it did so kept coming back. After a while more people started showing up to see me and that got his attention."

"What? Duncan I'm sure if you needed money you could have gotten a job doing something; like a greeter at Wal-Mart, or a taxi driver, anything besides this sick game."

"Courtney I needed immediate cash and the club offered it. And it is not some sick game it's a sport that's-"he tried to say but I cut him off.

"That's muscle bound guys beating each other."

"no its not Courtney. Let me ask you another question; you said your father was a lawyer right?"

"yeah."

"well I'm guessing you were pretty well off." He said looking right into my eyes, hell it looks like he was actually looking right through me.

"I… might have been." God that was a weak argument point.

"well than I'm also guessing you've never seen anything like real poverty. I'm talking dirt poor; surviving off food stamps and handouts. Taking whatever jobs you can find and still get paid minimum wage, and never knowing if you'll be able to pay next month's rent, or feed yourself. And for most of the other fighters they're in the exact same boat courtney." He said almost glaring at me. I can't really say anything right now so I just stand there quietly.

"Look around, this city is drowning in drugs, crime, and corruption. The only jobs around here for anyone without a college diploma are McDonald's and pizza boys, and that's if you're lucky. And for a lot of us, hell most of us, the club is our only source of income. And there is not a damn thing we can do about it." He said in almost looking sad.

"You wanna know why I defend the club? It's because it's about control, it's about control of our environment, our lives, it's about not being the victim.

For us, the fighters, we do whatever jobs we can find during the day, and practice or fight all night. It might be some kind of sick entertainment for the crowd, the dean. But to us, it's a life, one that we can live with." He said.

He stops but still looks right through me. Oh god I was actually ready to come in here and rip him a new one. I feel like garbage. Here is this guy who has to go through hell just to have a semblance of a life. A life that I take for granite. And not just him but most if not all the other fighters in the club are like that. I feel like such a shallow bitch; I'm heather. God just her name reminds me of what she and Al did to me. I actually can relate to what he said about not wanting to be the victim.

I then look back at Duncan and he is still staring through me like I'm some… some, I don't even know what; like something you wipe off your shoe. I don't know what to say. What is there to say? I ask myself.

After a few seconds of thinking I tell myself; He already sees me as garbage might as well have him answer a few more of my questions while the truth is out. "So how long have you been… you know?"

""About three and a half months, four nights a week, and the days I'm not fighting I'm in the ludus training with the other fighters" He said in a calm tone but still staring at me like before.

"the 'ludus'?" I ask.

"its what I call it. Think of it like a MMA training class."

"you had to have been good at fighting to be let in there. How did you learn to fight so well at first?"

"I grew up in a pretty bad neighborhood, which is another reason the whole valedictorian thing didn't matter so much, so my parents made me take self-defense classes…ones that they could afford."

"And how many people do you usually fight with a night? I mean do you always fight, you know…"

"Three guys at once? No. It started out with just one person a fight, but after a few weeks the dean thought it wasn't challenging enough for me, and we weren't giving the crowd their money's worth, so he started giving them weapons. You know like folding chairs, standard WWE crap. But after that he still thought that he was taking it too easy on me since I kept winning, so he made me fight more and more people. By that, I mean more times a week with one or two guys, but that night was the first time I fought three of them."

After hearing that I just couldn't take it anymore and just lunged at him and hugged him in the hospital bed. "I'm so sorry that you have to go through all of this." I said still hugging him, feeling him put his arm that didn't have an IV around me.

DUNCAN'S POV

"It's no problem, Court. Just something you gotta do to have a life." I said somewhat sarcastically. Alright, I think I gave her enough of the truth. If I told her all of it I'm sure she would've lost her mind.

"This is not funny Duncan!" She said letting go of me and standing up.

"We have to stop this! I should call the cops and have him taken to prison where he belongs so you don't have to go through this anymore." She said pulling out her phone again which by this point is getting old.

"Um, that sounds all good in theory, but if you do that I'm gonna go with him, along with every other contestant, and even if I didn't, I'd still get thrown out of the college." I said seeing her realize the hole in her logic. Which surprised me, since she's the one in law school.

"But, Duncan, we can't just let you keep doing this."

"What else can I do?" I ask somewhat angrily, but seeing her sad face I said,

"Courtney relax. Look it's already almost December, that's half a semester, and come on, it's only three and a half more years. How tough could it be?" After I said that I could tell it was the wrong thing to say, because even though I said it sarcastically to lighten things up I could tell by her face it didn't work. I've really got to stop being sarcastic when it comes to my work around her.

"I'm sorry it's just the way it has to be." I said reluctantly.

"I know I just don't like it," she said in a defeated tone.

"Who else knows about this?" I asked very much interested.

"Just me, Bridgette, Gwen, and Harold."

"You can't let them tell anyone, alright?" I said sternly.

"Alright… What does that make us anyway?" she asked looking confused.

"What do you mean?" I asked confused at her question.

"I mean us, this relationship. I mean, even though you're in a fight club, this is probably the most time we've spent together, and I know this makes me sound shallow, but in the last week I've been more interested in you than in the last two months." She said looking like she was gonna hyperventilate and looking guilty at what she just said.

"Actually I've been giving that some thought myself." I confessed.

"what was your thought?"

"well I was actually going to break up with you so that you didn't get too close to the truth about the club… but now… don't worry about it."

"Duncan, I actually have to know where we stand. We can't go back to where we were. And I feel really guilty that I only really started dating you because I thought you were boring, you helped me with my homework, and you listened to me talk about my day. I just don't know what to do now," she said sitting back down with a confused look on her face.

"Don't feel too bad princess. I only listened a little to your ramblings." I said kind of joking, but not really.

"What?" She shouted kind of outraged.

"Hey, don't get hypocritical with me." I said to her.

"Sorry, it's just, I don't know how to deal with this… And you only dated me because of that?" She asked sitting back down with her hands on her waist.

"Hey, at least I have a good reason!" I said pointing back at her.

"So do I!"

"Oh really? I'm sure law school is really hard compared to fighting nut jobs in shitty costumes, along with doing regular home work."

"It is Duncan! You might have to deal with nut jobs, but I have to deal with sharks!" She said getting closer to me and pissing me off at the same time, which I don't know why, but is kind of turning me on.

"Oh, I'm real scared a bunch of guys with suits and briefcases, ohhhh scary." I said trying to piss her off more.

COURTNEY'S POV

"Oh, I'm real scared a bunch of guys with suits and briefcases, ohhhh scary," he said pissing me off more.

"Oh yeah? Well those guys you fought weren't even that scary, just big, and if you can take them down then it can't be that hard." I said getting even closer to Duncan.

After a few seconds of just staring angrily at each other… I don't know how, but we just started kissing, and I mean really kissing. I know it was wrong, but I just felt so good. I tried to pull away, but it didn't help that he was a really good kisser.

It's amazing how this guy works when you meet the real Duncan. I mean, at first you're worried about him, then you get mad at him, then you feel sorry for him, then he confuses you, then he pisses you off again, and then finally, he makes you kiss him out of pure sexual tension. Nah! How am I gonna explain this to the girls.

After a few minutes of this, someone started knocking on the door. I immediately got off of Duncan as the door opens and a little old lady in a nurses outfit steps in and says, "I'm sorry to disturb you, but visiting hours are over. You'll have to leave now."

"Oh, okay, I'll see you tomorrow, Duncan, when you get out of the hospital." I said walking out of the room, waving at my I don't know what.

"Yeah, see you tomorrow princess," he said waving back.

To tomorrow. I thought.

_Ok that was it for chapt 7 I know this was a little short and late but I wanted to stop at page 7 and I have no excuse for the date but anyway next chapt will have even more answers to this mystery, that being said should I change the genre from romance and angst to romance and mystery or what, please review and tell me._

_Now I had some real fun rewriting this, that whole thing about why he and the other fighters showed up. That was fun, and true. We live in desperate times people no way around that. Why not let real life set the stage for our fiction._

- "Determination today leads to success tomorrow."

Google.


	8. Kind of Insulted

_Ok so throughout the story I continuously f up with the grammar and some plot holes, mostly grammar. But to clear this up for the time thing Duncan has been fighting for about 3 months and has been dating courtney for about 2 of those months, originally it was Duncan fighting for about 8 months and dating court for about 6 but I realized it was far too long to be considered realistic so remember duncan fight 3 date courtney 2 got it. And about the nurse thing it will be explained in the story. Enjoy._

_This has been rewritten, I own nothing yadda yadda_

**DESPERATION**

**Chapter 8- Kind of Insulted**

COURTNEY'S POV

_'Until tomorrow_.' I thought as I was walking out the door.

"Oh my, young man, what an interesting hair due you have." The nurse said pointing at Duncan's head.

Oh my God, how could I not notice? The entire time we were talking I never noticed his fohawk.

After the nurse had said that I started giggling like crazy, while Duncan himself put his non IV'd hand on his head to check if his hat was still on.

After my little laugh I started walking toward the door, but then I remembered the chip and thought he needed another funny moment and asked, "Um, nurse, could I have one more minute with him?"

"Well, I shouldn't, but okay deary. One more minute and that's it," she said as she walked out and closed the door.

"Okay, what'd you want to talk about, Court?" duncan said looking around for his hat. I try to hold down the laughs seeing him do this.

"Oh, nothing Duncan… But, ah, do you remember that tape I said I heard everything on?"

"Yeah, why?" he said dropping his search for now and looked right at me when I said that.

"Oh, it's just that, well, you know that chip that was used to record it?"

"Yes, and your point being?" Oh the look of confusion on his face was gorgeous.

"Well, it didn't work with your phone on top of it."

"What?" He asked looking like someone slapped him in the face.

"Yeah, I only heard static and a few words."

"You've got to be kidding me!"

"Nope, I only heard what happened after you fell on the floor. When you did your arm or something hit the dresser it was sitting on and the phone fell off onto the ground on its side."

"So all of that was just…"

"Well, not all of it, but yeah, I got you pretty good didn't I?" I ask smugly, while pulling out said chips and his phone.

"So the princess has a dark side, I'm impressed," he said flirtatiously.

But just as he said that the nurse came back in and said, "Time to go now, deary."

As she said that I couldn't help but be disappointed. I really wanna stay here and… well talking isn't the right word. But regardless I walk to the door and say. "Okay, see you later Duncan."

"Bye Court." He said as the nurse shut the door. She then lead me down the hall to the lobby.

As we were walking down the hallway to the lobby, then the exit, I see a clock that says I was in there with duncan a lot less than the fifteen minutes the doc said I would have had. Annoyed I ask, "Was I really in there for fifteen minutes? Because according to the clock I was only in there for ten."

"Oh, is that what the doctor said? When you went in there you only had about ten minutes of visiting time lift. The doctor must have been pulling a prank on you. The doctor likes to do that with his patients, he's a bit of a prankster for a doctor.."

Of course he did something like that. Makes about as much sense as anything else this week. I sigh and say. "Oh really? Well, I guess everyone's a little mischief maker today."

"Oh, why's that deary?"

"Oh, no reason." I said as we neared the exit.

"Um, hey, when will Duncan get out of here?"

"Oh, by tomorrow morning. You can pick him up then. Bye deary." She said as I walk out the revolving door.

"Bye." I said to the nurse. I sighed again and then said as I walk to my car. "Now time to tell the girls."

XXX

After I left for the hospital and got back to the dorms I went to my apartment to look for Gwen and Bridgette. Being roommates with them really helped when you were trying to find them.

As I unlocked the door and came inside the both shot up from what they were doing, ran over to me, and blindsided me with questions.

"Courtney, what happened?"

"Is duncan okay?"

"How long will he be in there?"

"What are you going to do?"

"How are you taking this?"

"_Okay, enough_! I can barely breathe when you two blitz me like that." I really wish I called them first. Hell even tweeting them would have been better.

"Sorry." They said in unison.

"We're just concerned and really, really curious."

"So are you gonna tell us?"

"Okay, okay, relax. Now, what do you want to know, and _one_ at a time." I said holding one finger.

"Alright, fine. How is Duncan?"

"He's fine. The doctor said they would release him tomorrow morning."

"Awesome, did you talk to him today?"

"Yes, actually for about fifteen minutes."

"Um, what did you guys talk about?"

"It was mostly me accusing him about stuff."

"Really? What happened?"

"Well, he denied it at first, but then I got him to come clean."

"Really, how?"

"I told him that we heard everything on the chip."

"But we only heard, like, the last 30 seconds."

"He didn't know that until afterword." I said triumphantly. Ha I always come out on top.

"Ha, nice," said Gwen giving me a high five.

"So what did he say? Did he tell you how he got mixed up in this?"

"Yeah he did, and I've got to tell you, it's a really sad story." I said feeling like the scum of the earth again. And they seem to see it as they look a bit more concerned.

"What do you mean?"

"The reason Duncan's in the fights is because if he competes he gets allowed to go here."

"What?"

"Yeah, he gets beat up, he gets to go to Vancouver University."

"Wow that sucks. Poor Duncan."

"Wait, that doesn't make any sense. Couldn't he just have gotten in by applying like everybody else, or going to some other school?"

"He said he couldn't because his parents weren't very connected and that he was from a bad neighborhood. And since his family didn't have a lot of cash no college would accept him. And actually its not just him. It turns out that most of the fighters, the fight club is there only source of money, same with duncan. The only reason he has that deal is because he's popular." When I said that I almost felt like crying. But I held it in best I could, I can't have Bridge and Gwen see me like that, not now.

"Wow, that... that just sucks."

"I know. I also learned that he was the valedictorian at his school, like me."

"Well, actually that's the part that's not too hard to believe."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, while you were with Duncan at the hospital me, Bridgette, and Harold did some digging and found out some stuff about Duncan."

_"What?" _I asked intrigued.

"Yeah, and Duncan has to complete at least write 8 papers, 25 packets, over 50 worksheets, and I think about 4 large projects a week."

"Are you kidding me? That alone is hard enough, and with the fights that's f'ing inhuman! That's actually more than I have to do, and I'm in law school!" I screamed outraged.

"And that's not all. He actually has an A average in his classes."

"Seriously?" No, seriously!

"Yeah, he does. So the whole valedictorian thing isn't so improbable."

"Oh wow, I owe him an apology."

"Why's that?"

"Well, when we were in the hospital room I said that I had more homework than him, and that i had the harder school life. Wow, I must've sounded completely insensitive and shallow."

"Was that before or after Duncan spilled his guts to you?"

"After. Oh, come on! I'm sorry I just didn't know how to handle it. Then I said that even though he has to deal with nut jobs and homework I had to deal with sharks and we got closer and then we… So did you find anything else?" I said remembering what happened after that and trying to change the subject. But like the rest of this week it didn't work out and both of my friends caught on. They looked at each other slyly then back at me. This isn't gonna end well.

"Oh, just stuff that could wait. But why'd you stop Court?" Gwen asked curiously.

"Oh, no reason. That's when the nurse came in to get me when it was time to go, that's all."

"No, you only have that face and fidget like that when it's something juicy." Bridgette said pointing first to my face, then to my hands that really were fidgeting. Damn it! Curse my inability to lie.

"No, nothing happened!" I defended feeling my face get hot.

"Oh, now your blushing." Gwen said pointing at my face. Dammit I thought the whole blush thing was done after high school!

"_Shut up_!" I shouted while seeing them still looking at me smiling smugly.

"Okay, fine. We… might … have…kissed."

"I'm sorry, what was that?" Bridgette said edging closer to me to emphasis her question.

"_We kissed, alright!" _I confessed with my hands in the air.

"What? You kissed him? After all of this?" Gwen said looking surprised.

"Courtney, how could you?" Bridgette asked sort of shocked.

"Oh, come on. It's not that bad. I mean I never berate you when you kiss your boyfriends!"

"Yeah, but our boyfriends aren't in fight clubs."

"And it's not even that Courtney, it's that, well, it's you." Gwen said almost reluctantly.

"What do you mean _me_?" I asked in a very intimidating way, feeling kind of insulted.

"Well, you haven't really done anything spontaneous, like, ever, and you're telling us that you kissed Duncan out of nowhere? Doesn't really sound like you."

After she said that I thought it over and noticed she was right. I never really do anything spontaneous, and then I kissed Duncan, which by the way was amazing. I still remember it now, ohhh.

"Courtney! Earth to Courtney! Hello," said Gwen as she snapped her fingers in front of my face.

"Huh? Oh, sorry. I was just thinking."

"Ah huh, sure you were." Bridgette said nodding with a smirk.

"I was gonna ask if it was good, but seeing you just now kind of gives it away."

"Wha- What are you talking about!" I stuttered.

"You're glowing."

"I am not!"

"Oh yes you are, we can see it."

"Okay, fine. It was good, but just don't tell anyone, okay?" I ordered tying to not feel embarrassed.

"You mean the part about you kissing him, or his extracurricular activities?" Bridgette asked sarcastically.

With a long and blank face I yelled, "Both!"

"So what happens now? You know, with your relationship?"

"I don't really know. We never really got a chance to really talk about it. I guess we'll figure it out tomorrow when I pick him up." I said forgetting my embarrassment and anger and replacing it with confusion. I don't really know right now.

"Do you want us to go with you?"

"Yeah, it could still be dangerous."

"No, it's fine. I'm sure nothing will happen." Yeah I'm sure it will be fine. If he wanted to hurt me he would have done so already. And besides the hospital has security camera's on every corner along with armed guards on every floor. I'll be more than safe.

"Okay, but take my taser with you, alright?" Gwen said taking out her tazer and handing it to me. And I grab it and put it in my purse next to my wallet.

"I'm sure if Duncan tries anything he'll stop as soon as he sees that," said Bridgette, then her and Gwen start laughing and I can't help but giggle at the thought.

DUNCAN'S POV

After Courtney left a few hours ago the doctors said I would be stuck here until tomorrow morning, after which I tried to catch some zzz's, but just couldn't do it. I kept thinking about Courtney. Which was weird considering I only really dated her because she was hot and I wanted someone in my life besides from in the club. But after our little 'talk' that changed, let me tell you. Normally when she's in my face I do my best to ignore her, but last time was different. Normally she's hot, but that made her smokin'. And with all that combined with her knowing what I do for a living and not, well, not running away screaming, I don't even know what to make of this but in a good way.

As I thought that with my eyes closed somebody walks in unnoticed. Tomorrow's gonna be a fun- ummph.

"_What the hell_! I say sitting up, noticing a stack of papers dumped on my lap and look to the side of me to see none other than the king of douchebags himself, the dean.

"Hello Duncan, nice to see you're awake," he said in his usual arrogant way.

"What is all this?" I asked pointing at the set of papers he probably slammed deliberately on my junk, which hurt by the way.

"I thought you were supposed to be a smart guy Duncan? That's the homework you have to do since you missed two days of class," he said pointing two figures up.

"You can't be serious! I got thrown in here because of your boy, and you still give me this crap." I said looking first at the stack of papers, then at the dean. He is wearing the same suite, or a very similar suite, as the one he wore when he ordered lightning to shock me. But the weird thing is that he was alone. He didn't have any of his body guards with him this time. He usually takes at least one with him were ever he goes for business not involving the school.

"Oh, I' m sure you can handle it, after all, you've got A's in all of your classes."

"Whatever." I said losing interest in the homework. "So what's the story, what do they know? Who'd you have to pay off or blackmail to keep their mouth shut? "

"Oh, just the head of medicine. I gave him a little bonus for not telling anyone how you really got hit with electricity. Oh, and Duncan, just remember that that work is due Monday."

"_What_? That's in, like, _two_ days, and this is like _four_ days' worth of work, you _motherfucker_!" I retorted trying to get up.

"Ah, ah, ah, easy, Duncan, easy. We wouldn't want any more outlet accidents now would we?" He asked pulling out the same Taser gun from before.

"Now, why don't you sit back down and do what I-"

"Oh, you wouldn't do that McClain." I said getting out of the bed and pulling out the IV.

"Oh, and why not?" He asked smugly.

"Because, in case you don't recall, I'm hooked up to a heart rate monitor, and if you hit me with that you'll have the whole hospital staff running up here. And there's no way you could get out without anyone noticing." I said even more smugly as his smug face faded and was replaced by an angry one.

"Why you little fucker."

"Hey, I'm just trying to keep our little deal safe man. Isn't that what you want?" I asked even more smugly.

"This isn't over," he said putting the tazer gun back into his pocket.

"Oh, I think it is. So why don't you leave before I 'accidentally' press the doctor and security button. I'm sure they'd love to talk to you, and with all the patients in this part of the hospital watching Kirk Cameron, no way would they miss this form of entertainment." I said as smug as I could get while having my index finger right next to the doctor button on my armrest.

"Alright, fine, I'm going. But one of these days I will get you Duncan, and you will lose," he said walking to the door.

"Oh, I'll keep that in mind." I said sitting back down on the bed.

But before he left the dean turned around and said, "You know, I heard you had a visitor."

Losing my grin I said, "Yeah, what of it?"

"Oh, nothing. Just wondering if she knows anything about our deal, about you, about me?"

"I gave her a story to get her to stop asking questions and just enough of the truth so that she doesn't dig anymore into it or tell the cops."

"That's good, that's good. Wouldn't want to have to take any drastic steps now would we?" He asked regaining his arrogant grin.

"You won't, and it's you not we." I said with a serious face looking right at him.

"Oh, come now, Duncan. If I go down you go down, you know that. Wouldn't you want to stop her like you used to?"

"How would you know?"

"Come on duncan. I've read your file, your real file. I know who you are, what you are, and I know what you can do. And you're really gonna sit there and tell me the thought of handling her like you would have before didn't cross your mind?"

I shouldn't be surprised he read my file. He obviously had connections, now I know how deep "No, I didn't and besides those days are behind me for good."

"We'll see, won't we? And I know you're a good liar Duncan, but are you sure your cover story will work?"

"It will work."

"Good, because if she knew the real you, or at least who you used to be, she wouldn't call the cops, she'd call the National Guard."

"Get out of my room, man."

"Fine, I will, but just remember who owns you." He said opening the door.

"You don't own me." I shot back.

"Oh, I don't? Ha, ha," he said as he walked out the door.

"This isn't over McClain." I said in one last attempt at defiance.

_Ok that's it for this chapt. Now I've noticed that I only do writing at night and I don't know why I just do and don't worry about anything there will be more romance and you will know more about duncan soon. Later._

"Shall I tell you what the real evil is? To cringe to the things that are called evils, to surrender to them our freedom, in defiance of which we ought to face any suffering."

Seneca


	9. the date

Ok the story and plot was written by me but the actual writing was done by an associate of mine; Luna Mrow. I had her write it because I couldn't think of anything for the date at the time and I wanted to get this chapter posted. I know it's the lazy thing to do but I wanted it to be done.

Now usually when I rewrite the chapter I usually change the quote too but this time it stays, I kinda like it but I will add in another one anyway if I can find a better one. Also this one will be done in third person so… there's that.

**DESPERATION**

**Chapter 9- The Date**

When Courtney entered Duncan's hospital room she found him sitting down to a bowl of ice cream. He was already changed out of his hospital attire and was in his usual clothes (tight black shirt, blue jeans, black converses etc.). As soon as he noticed her standing there he sat down his frozen treat. "Hospital has crappy food. The ice cream is pretty good though." Duncan explained.

Courtney rolled her eyes but smiled. "Are you ready to go?" she asked.

"oh yeah."

"Are you sure you don't want me to wait so you can add some sprinkles?"

"Oh, very funny," Duncan stood up and his mouth automatically went into a smirk. "You look really great," he said in a low voice. Looking at her attire (same as on the show, can't really describe it)

Courtney broke eye-contact with his ice-blue eyes. "Thanks," she mumbled. She knew her cheeks were burning from blush, not the lack of air-conditioning in the hospital room. She then looked at the huge stack of papers and books on the table next to him and said, "What is that?" pointing to said papers and books.

Duncan looking at the stack said, "Oh, someone from school dropped those off here last night."

Courtney, a little surprised, asked, "Oh, well, do you want some help with that?"

Duncan, eating the last of his ice cream, said, "Nah, I got most of it done last night."

Courtney's eyes nearly jumped out of her head, she said even more surprised, "Really! Holy crap!"

Duncan, getting out of his chair and grabbing his stack said, "So, ready for today? I'll just leave this in your car until we get back to the dorms."

"Yeah, sure am. So, um, where were you thinking of taking me on a date? I hope it's not somewhere cliché like dinner and a movie," She gave him a devious look. "I hope you have some originality."

He smirked. "Princess, I'm all for originality. Our date is in the hospital's cafeteria."

Her devious gleam suddenly ceased, and her mouth made an 'O'. "What?" Courtney shrieked. "You cannot be serious?"

Duncan laughed. "I'm not."

"Ugh! That wasn't funny, Duncan!"

He shrugged. "I thought it was pretty damn hilarious."

XXX

Duncan told Courtney the date would last all day and it would have 'three parts'. 'Whatever that meant,' Courtney thought to herself. Because she picked him up at the hospital at nearly 10:30 in the morning, the first thing the two did was go to Starbucks.

"Here you go m'am, come again," said the cashier giving Courtney back her change.

Courtney having her order and change began to walk away when she heard. "Cough cough"

Courtney turned around and looked at the cashier; he was staring at the ceiling and pointing at the small sign next to the cash register 'tips are appreciated'. Courtney not wanting to make a scene so early in the day said, "Ah, fine, here." Courtney then pulled out the small amount of change she got from her order and gave it to the cashier.

The cashier said thankfully with a smug grin, "Thank you m'am"

Courtney then walked back to Duncan who had his own beverage. "Of course Mocha would order a mocha." Duncan teased as she sat down. He had ordered himself a double chocolate latte.

She gave him a quick sneer. "It's a mocha cappuccino," she answered matter-of-factly.

"And what's in your other hand?"

"A side of whip-cream."

Duncan's eyes widened. "They give a whole cup of whip cream no charge?"

She laughed. "Well, yeah, but maybe not for you."

"Why not?"

"Because you're an idiot."

Duncan laughed and shook his head. "Keep the morning insults coming princess, I've got a tough wall to break through." She smirked and took a sip of her cappuccino.

Courtney attempting to have a conversation asked, "So what did yours cost?"

"A lot more than it should have, why?" he said pointing at his order.

"Oh, no reason, just trying to start a conversation. But did you give your change to the cashier?"

Duncan confused asked. "Why would I give my change to him?"

"Well, I guess you don't have to, but I gave mine to him." Courtney said matter of factly.

Duncan still confused asked, "Why?"

"Oh, he pointed at the please tip the cashier sign, and I didn't feel like arguing so I just gave it to him." Courtney said drinking her mocha.

Duncan just as confused said, "I didn't see a please tip sign," he said looking over to the register.

Courtney fallowing his lead looked back at the register and saw that there was no sign there now.

"What? But he had one there before," she said looking back at Duncan.

Duncan with a grin said, "Oh, I know what's going on here. Ha ha, nice."

Courtney, now the one with a confused face, asked, "Um, Duncan, what's going on here?"

Duncan stopped laughing, but still keeping his smirk said, "It's an old trick some cashiers pull," Gesturing to the register he said, "What they do is that after they give the customers their order, they wait until they almost leave to distract them so that they can put out their tip sign or jar then ask for a tip. Look he's doing it now."

Courtney then turned back to the register again to see the new customer turn to go sit at a table while the cashier put his sign on the counter. He then did the same thing to the new customer he had done with her. And after the new customer left he put the 'tip' in his pocket and put his sign away for the next sucker.

Duncan, after seeing the new scam, continued his lesson in cons saying, "Yeah, usually this goes on all day, and no ones the wiser."

Courtney turning back to Duncan asked, "Do you think the manager knows about this?"

"Probably not. If he did get caught he could get sued." Duncan said taking another sip from his drink.

Courtney, still a little confused asked, "How come he only did it on me, and not on you?" She then pointed at Duncan.

Duncan pointing back at her said, "Because chicks are likely to be less cheap, so they're less likely to make a scene and get the manager involved."

Courtney, angry now, said, "Oh, that little weasel. I'm so gonna give him a piece of my mind." Courtney then got out of her seat and started walking over to the register.

Duncan followed her and stepped in front of Courtney and said, "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold on, I got a better idea."

Courtney, still mad, said, "What would that be?"

"We go over there collect your money and interest," he said rubbing his thumb with his index and middle finger together with a smirk.

Courtney intrigued asked, "Okay, what do we do?"

Still smirking he said, "You just look mad and follow me."

They then walked up to the register where yet another young lady fell for his con, after which no one was at the register. The cashier with a little sign of fear looking at county's angry expression said, "How may I help you?"

Duncan than pointed at the 'tips are appreciated' sign, Duncan then pointed at the manager's office at the end of the room. The cashier catching on said even more scared than before, "You got no proof."

Duncan than pointed at the surveillance camera. After a few seconds the cashier dejectedly said "Fine! What do you want?"

Duncan then made the same money gesture he did with Courtney a few minutes ago. The cashier then pulled out some money he had in his pocket and handed it to Duncan. Duncan taking a few minutes to count the money then gave the cashier a keep coming gesture. The cashier then got even more money from his pocket and handed it to Duncan.

After counting it again Duncan said, "Pleasure doing business with you." He then walked back to his seat with Courtney following him, but not before she stuck her tong out at the cashier.

Once they were back at their table Duncan handed Courtney the money the cashier gave him. Courtney took the money and after checking it said, "Oh my gosh! Duncan there's got to be over $30 here!"

Duncan, taking another sip from his drink, said, "Yep, and now we have more than enough money for the next part of today."

Before Courtney could ask what they were doing, one of the coffee employees turned on the news and turned the volume up. Courtney and Duncan were in the lounging area of the shop so they automatically turned their heads to the huge flat-screen TV. A female reporter was on the news and she was standing in an alleyway in the city.

"It was here that the victim, twenty-seven year old Marsha Phillips was brutally beaten by a couple of thugs. She was placed in critical care this morning in the hospital. Percentage of mugging and assault has gone up 29% alone this month! This is Blaineley, reporting for News 18."

Duncan while staring emotionlessly at the tv said.. "Hey, Court, let's get out of here,"

She was too enthralled with the TV. "I don't understand what's wrong with people!" she exclaimed. "Why would men want to hurt innocent women? What is it with criminals?"

He sighed and explained. "Well most don't actually. Most criminals just want a payday and do crimes because they are either desperate or lazy. Actually most criminals don't want people to get hurt. They just want their money.

But then there are the ones that do. These kinds of criminals get a rush out of mugging pretty women because it's just like a big power play. They love finding strong, independent, successful women and then make them scared as hell so they're basically helpless. They love how deconstructed they can make someone who is usually so in control."

After he finished his sentence Courtney looked at him. "Wow," she muttered. "I... never thought of it that way."

Duncan abruptly stood up. "I'm gonna get some whip cream, then we can leave," he said, his voice lacking any amusement. She watched him walk away and couldn't help but feel... suspicious.

XXX

For the second part of the date, Duncan took Courtney to the mall. She was a little skeptical about this because Duncan was not the type of guy to sit down and watch her try on shoes, let alone carry her bags for her when she was shopping. He refused to tell her what exactly they were doing in the mall, but he promised they wouldn't buy shoes (even though Courtney did see some flats that were 50% off and looked really cute).

Duncan started acting like he did before they went to the coffee shop. He was hoping she wouldn't bring up the news subject that had happened in there. Luckily she hadn't. Courtney decided not to ask him about it, although she couldn't help but speculate in her head about it.

How would Duncan know so much about criminals and how they think? The way he said and acted was so confident, like he knew exactly what he was talking about and doing.

Those were the thoughts going through her head as they walked down the halls of the mall. "Oh good, we're here," Duncan said, interrupting her thought process.

She looked up and saw a large pool of water in the middle of the mall with giant inflatable balls floating on top. She saw several people get inside the see-through balls and then proceed to run around on the water, laughing crazily, as they knocked each other down and ran around.

Courtney smiled. "Wow. I have to admit, I didn't expect this."

He smirked. "I knew you wouldn't. Come on, let's go."

The two took off their shoes and paid one of the employees with the money they got at the Starbucks, and then the employee helped them into their own individual ball on the water. Once Courtney was inside hers, she suddenly got hit and toppled over! "Ugh! Duncan you shoved me!" she yelled, her voice muffled in the ball.

He laughed. "Well come on princess, show me you can get revenge." He winked. She growled and stood up, beginning to run after him as he sped away. It was hard to run inside the inflatable balls, at the same time you ran, you had to push the ball to help it go faster. Duncan was at least five feet ahead of her as he laughed evilly and ran around the pool. Courtney was now in complete 'competitive mode'. And for those unlucky enough to see her in this mode, they know that she was serious.

She finally got smart and cut the corner of the pool. With full force the young woman slammed into Duncan with her ball!

WHAM!

"Holy crap!" Courtney cried. She had slammed into Duncan so hard he actually fell out of the pool and onto the hard floor of the mall! She didn't mean to hit him that hard! "Crap, crap, crap," Courtney hissed as she hurried and got off the water, got out of her ball, and immediately ran over to him. "Duncan? Duncan? Are you okay? Oh my god, I'm so sorry!" she exclaimed. He wasn't moving. He was face-down on the ground.

She hurried and opened the hatch to his inflatable ball, getting inside herself to check and see if he was breathing. When she flipped him over on his back he started laughing, "Gotcha, princess."

"Oh my God! Duncan, that was so not funny!"

He continued to chuckle. "I know."

Courtney then punched him playfully in the arm, then pointed at him and said, "Don't do that again!"

Duncan rubbing his arm said with a smirk said, "Aw, come on Court. I get hurt worse than that almost every day. A little fall's not gonna do much."

Courtney remembering Duncan's employment said weakly and with a somewhat sad face, "Oh, right."

Duncan seeing her reaction realized he made a mistake and said, "Come on, time for part three of today."

XXX

The third and final part of the date was a simple walk around the city. It was nighttime now, and the lights to all the businesses lit up the city, giving it some kind of magical vibe. The two had walked in silence for a few minutes, both of them wondering what to say. Finally, Duncan broke the silence and asked, "Having fun?"

She nodded. "Minus the part I thought I killed you, yeah, today has been fun."

"Good." He wrapped an arm around her shoulder and she let him bring her to his chest.

"You still smell like the hospital," she mumbled teasingly against his shirt.

"Then you should definitely cuddle me. Maybe then I'll smell like cinnamon, or whatever the hell you smell like."

She laughed. "You think that Marsha girl is alright?"

"Who?"

"The girl who was mugged by those men on the news. You think she'll be alright?" Courtney asked.

"Probably, like I said before very rarely do muggers and criminals actually want to kill their victims."

Once again Duncan was going off on that same subject, and Courtney decided to try and find out what he knew. "Why is that?" she asked.

He shrugged. "Unless they're actually sicko's who enjoy killing, the criminals don't actually want to kill their victims. They just like scaring them."

"So... why do most cases end with the women being stabbed or dead?"

"Because if they're not the cops or news stations don't think its news worthy, and most of the time that doesn't happen. Trust me when I say this, for every mugging that's on TV there are at least five more that happened that are less serious."

Courtney, even more confused at his knowledge, said, "Okay, that makes sense."

The two were so busy talking that they hadn't noticed that they walked down into the shady west side of the city, where the lights were more dim, less people were around, and the good vibes had ceased. Right as Courtney was going to ask Duncan why he knew so much, she suddenly felt a large hand grip her shoulder and jerk her back!

She screamed as she was taken out of Duncan's embrace and slammed into three other men. She looked up and saw that they had found themselves near an alleyway and there were three men attacking them!

Duncan then turned to the men, not at all scared or threatened, and said calmly, "Whoa guys, let her go and walk away, and I'll forget this ever happened."

One of the men laughed. "Ha! What are you going to do about it, big guy? This bitch is ours now, so you best be getting on your way."

The two men holding Courtney laughed. She saw Duncan's face become a little more agitated and saw a gleam in his eye she had never seen before. "Let her go man, last warning." Duncan then pulled off his hat to reveal his green fohawk.

One of the men holding her looked at Duncan harder and then said, "Oh my God... Boss, that's him! That's the green hood!"

"Shut up," his boss told him. "Hold the girl down." He took out a hidden knife from the pocket of his jacket and extended his knifed hand to Duncan. "Come on man, show me you got some balls," he challenged.

Duncan surprised the man when he grabbed the arm that had the knife, pulled the muggers arm toward himself, and then using his other hand grabbed the muggers elbow, twists it around to the muggers back. Duncan then pushed the elbow as far up as he could which made a large cracking sound, signifying that Duncan had effectively broken the muggers arm.

The mugger then started crying like a baby and fell to his knees. Duncan, in the muggers distracted state, grabbed the knife from the mugger's unusable hand that was still being held by Duncan himself. Duncan then grabbed the muggers head with both hands and slammed it against his knee, right between his eyes effectively knocking him out. The slamming was just enough to knock out the mugger and not do any more serious damage, Duncan himself was experienced enough to know this.

Both the other muggers, and Courtney herself, looked, and probably were, scared shitless. The mugger on the right side of Courtney, who had a crowbar, then gulped and charged at Duncan with his crowbar ready to swing. Duncan, ready for this, dodged the swing from the mugger and placed the knife right against the muggers throat. The mugger knowing that he could do nothing without risking having his throat sliced open glared at duncan, who glared back, dropped his crowbar and raised up his hands to show that he surrendered.

Duncan then moved the knife away from the muggers neck and the second he did the mugger pulled out a gun from the back of his pants and tried to shoot duncan with it. But duncan grabbed the muggers arm that had the gun and held it so that the mugger could not shoot him. The mugger then grabbed Duncan's hand that was keeping him from shooting him and tried to pull it off.

The two wrestled like that for a few moments trying to take control until one of them tripped forcing them both on the ground. When they landed duncan was on his back while the mugger landed on top of him and they both were still holding on to the gun fighting for control over it. But because now duncan since he landed in a way so that he was only holding onto the gun with one hand was losing that fight.

The mugger was forcing the gun closer and closer to duncan's head and duncan knew if he did not do something soon he and courtney were dead. So duncan using his free hand searched for the knife that duncan dropped when he fell. Duncan soon found it and the second he did he stabbed the mugger in the back of the leg.

When the mugger was stabbed he pulled the trigger on the gun which shot out into the street and into a window of a building shattering it. After the mugger was stabbed he took one of his hands and placed it over the stab wound and while he was distracted, duncan pulled the gun out of the muggers hand, kicked off the mugger, and stood up pointing the gun at the mugger who tried to kill him.

Still holding his wounded leg the mugger threatened to Duncan. "you green haired shit! I'll fucking kill your mother!"

"Good luck with that, she's already in the ground." Duncan said calmly while still pointing the gun at the mugger.

"then I'll fucking kill you!" the mugger said trying to get up but the second he tried to put any pressure on the leg duncan stabbed he fell back to the ground and started crying out in pain.

After a few moments of this the mugger knowing that the fight was over as he was unable to so much as stand, kneeled and glared at duncan and then asked. "what now you little shit? You really got the balls to pull that trigger and kill me."

Duncan took a step closer to the mugger and said sternly. "What do you think?"

The mugger took a moment to think, but could tell that duncan was serious and could pull that trigger and kill him as he had ended a life before and knew the eyes of a killer when he saw them. The mugger then in a very nialistic way asked. "so you really gonna shoot me right here? Well get to it boy."

"I'd like to but I can't take the heat right now." duncan said right before he pistol whipped the mugger across the side of the muggers skull. This time duncan didn't make sure he hit the mugger light enough not to do any serious damage.

As soon as the mugger's head hit the ground duncan knew he made a mistake because shortly after dark red liquid started oozing out of the muggers head and into the street.

For a few moments Duncan just stood there over the mugger looking at what he had just done. Courtney and the other mugger both looked in shock and horror at what duncan had done. But then duncan took a deep breath turned to the mugger and pointed the second muggers gun at the last mugger and asked in an intimidating voice, "You up next?"

The third and last mugger immediately let go of Courtney and put his hands up, saying scared, "Yo, man I'm cool, I'm cool. I knew you were GH, I knew it. They should have listened."

Duncan still pointing the revolver toward the last mugger said, "Yeah, they should have. Get out of here."

The mugger then ran as fast as he could in the opposite direction of Duncan and Courtney. Duncan then looked at Courtney who looked at Duncan with both amazement and fear.

_Hope you liked this chapt and sorry for the delay its just that I was working on my other story "csj the extended version" and I didn't really know where to take this chapter so I had some help. You can thank luna mrow for that she and I worked on this on together. Please read and review._

_Now I mostly just rewrote the fight scene between duncan and the muggers. Before the fight between duncan and them was mostly just him beating the crap out of them but this time I wanted duncan to struggle and to force both him and courtney to live through a life or death situation. And if you have read ahead you know that this is foreshadowing and I hope you approve._

-you know how I got these scars?

-no but I know where you got these!

-the dark knight.


	10. the other guys

_Ok sorry for the delay but I hope it helps to know that I've been busy. I found out that it is easier to write when you first write a chapter plot then the chapter itself. It helps you know what you're going to write and allows you to put in ideas you get after your done writing it. Oh and this chap will be mostly the secondary and supporting characters not main characters like Courtney and Duncan enjoy. Also one more thing this will be the first chapt I have written for this story I have written by myself in months._

_Ok a few more things I own nothing unfortunately and this has been rewritten._

**DESPERATION**

**Chapter 10- the other guys**

"Oh that was awesome!" Bridgette said walking down the hall way with Gwen to their dorm room.

"I know glad I went." Gwen agreed. "So where did Geoff take you?" Gwen asked Bridgette.

"Oh the usual, he took me to the beach." Answered Bridgette.

"Wow! Took a lot of originality for that one." Gwen said with an abundance of playful sarcasm in her voice. 

Bridgette a little annoyed but just as playfully asked. "Oh really? Where did Trent take you on your date?"

Gwen still smiling said. "To a dinner and a movie."

Bridgette smiling triumphant said. "Your right Gwen that is original"

"ok, ok ya got me." Gwen said putting her hands up but still smiling. "So where do you think Duncan took Courtney on their date?" Gwen said putting down her hands and replacing her smile for a confused look.

Bridgette also swapped her happy look for a confused one said. "I don't really know. Where would Duncan take her after she found out what he does?"

Getting to their dorm room Gwen took out her key's and opened the door with while saying. "Well I guess if Courtney had a good time with him it doesn't matter. Speaking of which do you think she had fuu…"

As they opened the door both Gwen and Bridget were surprised to see a very disturbed looking Courtney sitting at the kitchen counter drinking hot chocolate like she just got out of a blizzard.

"Hey guys how was your day!" said Courtney shaking like crazy while waving to her friends.

Still a bit weirded out by the disturbed Courtney, Gwen said. "Um, it was fine. Me and Bridgette spent the day with our boyfriends."

After taking another sip of her drink Courtney said "oh that sounds nice." After which she took another sip.

Bridgette even more creeped out asked awkwardly. "so how was your date with Duncan?"

" oh my date with Duncan, it was "great, amazing, wonderful." After which she drank what was left of her drink in one big gulp.

Courtney then looked at Gwen and Bridgette and noticing their concerned looks. "I'm a, I'm a gonna go to bed. See you guy's in the morning." Courtney said putting down her empty cup and almost running toward her room.

"ok that was just weird. What did Duncan do to her." Demanded Gwen.

"I have no idea. Maybe it wasn't Duncan. Maybe it was something else." Bridgette tried to reason.

Still suspicious Gwen said. "Ah come she was chugging hot chocolate! You know she only drinks that stuff when she's really upset. And the last time she drank that stuff was during the Alejandro thing."

"we'll ask her tomorrow, Courtney's really shook up now." Said Bridgette going to her own room to sleep.

"Yeah your right." Gwen agreed following her roommates lead going to her own room

XXX

"nahhh" yawned Gwen getting out of bed. Still in her pajamas, Gwen walked out of her room, she was then met by Bridgette who also just woke up and was also in her pajama's.

"Hey Bridgette." Said Gwen rubbing her eye's still tired.

"oh hey Gwen." Said Bridgette doing some stretches.

Still walking to the kitchen to get something to eat Gwen asked. "so do you think Courtney is ok now?"

"don't know, but do I hope she's good enough to tell us what happened last night." Said Bridget.

Walking into the kitchen area Gwen said. "Well she should be, even during the Alejandro thing she told us pretty quick."

But as soon as Gwen said that Bridgette stopped walking and just stared into the kitchen like a ghost was making a sandwich in it. Seeing Bridgett's freaked out face after talking Gwen turned her head toward where Bridgette was looking to see a wired Courtney.

Courtney herself was in her usual attire, business wear, but was very jittery with four to five empty plastic Coffey cups next to her, while she was drinking her sixth watching TV.

Gwen freaked and concerned from seeing this asked. "um, hi Courtney, how you doing?"

"Just fine thank you!" said Courtney very condescendingly slurping the last bit of her coffee.

Bridgette seeing her do this asked. "um Courtney how many have you had?"

"Oh about six or so. I ran out of hot chocolate around three." Courtney said twitching at the same time.

Bridgette even more concerned said. "Didn't you go to bed before us last night?"

Courtney still twitching said. "Yeah but I couldn't sleep."

"I wonder why?" Bridget said sarcastically.

Gwen getting impatient demanded. "Ok enough of this crap, Courtney what did Duncan do?!"

Courtney before she could say anything looked at the TV screen and looked extremely freighted and said " I gotta go… to the library." She said picking up her purse and pointing her finger to the door. Looking at her friends she said nervously. "for homework." Courtney then took another look at her friends who she could tell were not buying it at all. Courtney then ran for the door and left.

Seeing her leave Bridgette asked angrily. "What the hell was that?!"

"I don't know but we got to find out what Duncan did to Courtney. She wasn't even this upset after her dad slapped her." Said Gwen.

Agreeing with her friend Bridgette nodded and looked at the TV. "Before Courtney left she looked at the tv, then she freaked out and ran off, maybe that's got something to do with it."

Gwen not seeing where this was going asked. "Are you sure it's just the news?"

Bridgette grabbing the remote and rewinding the TiVo said. "No, but it will give us something to start with."

For the next few minutes the duo stayed quit watching the screen for anything suspicious until Gwen said pointing at the screen. "stop! What was that last part, the one with the picture?"

The picture on the screen was a surveillance camera pic of a man with green hair from the back facing to 3 thugs, two of which here holding a Hispanic woman, while the third looking like he was talking with Duncan. The woman in the picture you could only see from the nose down.

Both were confused at what they were seeing stared in silence until Bridgette said. "Is that, no it couldn't be?"

"Bridgette what other guys do we know who has green hair? And that girl right there. We both know is courtney." Gwen confirmed.

Bridgette still wanting to know what happened said. "Role it back, let's see what's on it."

Gwen did as she was told, rolling it back until they saw a news reporter and let it play. "Hello this is Blaineley of Vancouver tonight, I'm here to show you this picture." She then pointed to a picture right next to her where she sat.

Blaineley then said. "this was taken by a security cam at around 8 pm last night and as you can see it involves Joe smo, and frank shmuck Vancouver's most wanted gang bangers and rapists, along with a young woman." She said pointing to the young Hispanic woman. "And they appear to be talking to this young man with very peculiar hair." She said pointing now to this green haired man. Blaineley then stopped pointing and then said. "More on this later today, now for the weather, Trisha." After which Gwen shut off the TV.

Outraged Gwen demanded." What the fuck! Can you believe she was smiling the entire time?!"

Bridgette kinda ignoring Gwen pulled out her phone and started dialing.

Curious Gwen asked. "um, Bridgette what are you doing."

Bridgette still dialing her cell said. "I'm calling the police. Duncan must've done something to Courtney with those thugs last night. NAH! My cells out of juice, give me yours." Bridgette then reached out to Gwen.

Gwen then rose up her hands and backed away a little bit from Bridgette and said. "WHOW, before we jump to conclusions we should go talk to Courtney about this. We could get them both in serious trouble if we're wrong. I can't believe I'm telling you this."

Bridgette getting frustrated said. "Courtney's not gonna tell us anything! Did you see her last night and this morning?!"

"Then let's go talk to Duncan and see what he's got to say about this first."

Bridgette getting even more frustrated said. "Gwen come on! Look at the picture he obviously did something to Courtney, we should tell the cops. And even if we did find him he'll probably do something to us. Remember what he did to those three freaks a few days ago!"

Gwen after listening to her friends rant said. "Ok 1. It's just a picture of one moment it doesn't tell us everything. And 2. If he tried anything I still got my fully charged Taser."

Now Bridgette was both confused and frustrated. She asked angrily. "Why are you defending him don't you think he did anything?!"

Gwen replied. "Hello I'm a Goth, I get accused of doing bad stuff all the time and yeah I do but I still think that we should investigate first."

Bridgette seeing her friend's logic sighed and said. "Yeah your right. Let's look for Duncan." After which they both got dressed and headed for the door and left.

Walking out of the building Bridgette asked. "Gwen do you know where Duncan is because I don't."

Gwen then stopped walking with Bridgette soon after and said. "No I don't either. How did we find him last time?"

"Didn't that annoying computer guy help us, what's his name? Harold." Bridgette said vaguely remembering the red head.

Gwen also remembering him said. "Oh yeah. But do you know where he is?"

Bridgette frustrated said. "Darn it! What are supposed to do now?"

"Let's try lashana at the service desk, she might help" Gwen said with a smile.

"Ok that could work." Bridgette also said smiling.

XXX

Gwen and Bridgette walked into the main building of the campuses and walked up to the service desk and Gwen asked her friend. "Hey lashana, how you doing?"

Lashana in her usual sassy way said. "What up girls, I'm just fine how's yall?"

"we're trying to find Duncan Evens can you help us?" answered Bridgette

"Duncan? Harold told me about him. Sure I'll help you find the skinny punk ass." Lashana said typing on the screen.

Bridgette happy to hear this said. "Awesome."

Gwen curious asked lashana. "Wait how do you know Harold?"

Lashana answered. "I'm dating him, he's my little sugar bear"

Both Gwen and Bridgette were very surprised at what she just said. Lashana then said looking at the computer screen. "Ok this is weird."

"What do you mean?"

Lashana getting frustrated said. "I mean I can't open his file, that's never happened before."

Gwen asked. "is it some kind of computer glitch?"

"Its working for everybody else just not him" lashana replied.

"Is there any other way to find him?"

Lashana replied "no not that I can think of."

Bridgette asked. "how about Harold, he helped us find duncan last time. Lashana could you look him up for us and tell us where he is?"

"don't need to I'll just call him." Lashana said pulling out her cell and called Harold.

Gwen then looked at Bridgette who gave the same surprised look she did and Gwen said to lashana. "it's still weird that your dating harold."

Lashana not hearing or pretending to not hear said. "Shush I'll put him on speaker."

Through the cell Harold said. "hey lashana how's it going beautiful?"

Lashana blushes a little bit and says. "can you help some friends of mine find somebody."

"Um I guess, who are they?" Harold said confused.

Gwen getting impatient said. "Harold it's us. Gwen and Bridgette."

"You two?! Oh man this can't be good. Ok what do you want?" Harold said kinda scared.

Bridgette annoyed but also kinda surprised that he is right said. "we need your help finding duncan, will you do it?"

Harold in a very condescending way said. "Why should I help you?"

Before Gwen or Bridgette could take the cell and threaten Harold, lashana said. "Because their my friends skinny and if you help them I'll scratch you behind your 'ears'".

Harold immediately replied. "Ok so I'll meet you in your dorm and then we'll get started." He then hung up.

Gwen said. "wait how do you know where our dorm is? Hello?"

Bridgette said after Gwen's attempt at talking to Harold. "Guess we'll meet him at our dorm. um lashana should I ask what scratching behind his ears means?"

Lashana shook her head and said. "probably not"

Gwen also not wanting to know started walking away and said. "see you later lashana."

"By yall, find duncan." Lashana said waving.

XXX

"So what do you think Harold can do to help us?" asked Gwen walking down the hall in the dorm complex to her's and her friend's dorm.

"Maybe he's got another tracking device on duncan that'll help us find him." Bridgette answered.

"Well at least we know he's serious." Said Gwen after turning a corner to see Harold with a lap top and his back pack that was carrying what she could see as homemade gadgets.

"Bout time you got here! Do know how long I've been here? 5 whole minuets, gosh!" Harold said seeing them.

"Whatever, how'd you know this was our dorm?" asked Bridgette annoyed at Harold.

"I hacked into the college database and found where your dorms were, duh!" said the obvious computer nerd.

"If you could do that from your room why did you come here? Why didn't you just help us from where you were when we called you?" asked a confused Gwen.

Harold then pulled out a digital camera, jumped in front of the duo, and took a picture of him in the middle of the two girls. After the flash he said to the duo. "That. So now I have proof that I was here and helped if you say I didn't."

Gwen after rubbing her eyes opened the door and said. "Whatever just get in here and help us find duncan."

"Wow I've never been inside of a girls dorm room before, I was kind of hoping it would be like American cake beta house." Harold said going up to a computer desk in the living room and laying his laptop on it then opening it then turning it on.

While Harold was setting out the rest of his gadgets out on the computer desk he asked. "So why do you guys want me to find Duncan this time?"

Gwen didn't feel like talking but Bridgette who was still felt like going on a rampage from this morning admitted. "We think Duncan did something to courtney last night!"

Harold logging on his computer and then logging on to the internet asked. "Um, why do you think that?"

Gwen was the one this time who blurted out. "Last night, after she spent the day with him, was really upset and was chugging hot chocolate. She only drinks that when she's really disturbed or stressed."

Bridgette continuing Gwen's rant about their other best friend said. "And we saw this news report about him with joe smo and frank scmuck! Do you have any idea who those two are?!"

Harold turned to the two freaked out friends and said. "Wait! That was Duncan in that pick?! Why does he have green hair? And yeah those are the cities most wanted rapists, they were responsible for assaulting that Marsha girl a few days ago"

He then turned back to his computer and started typing. After a few seconds of what appeared to be random typing he said. "Figures, a guy who works on the west side would be a friend of theirs."

"So you saw the same news report? And um how are you gonna find Duncan?" asked Bridgette.

"Yeah I did this morning. And well since I don't have any bugs on him anymore I'll have to do it the hard way." Said Harold still typing and moving his plug in mouse.

Curious Gwen asked. "Which is?"

Harold then snorted arrogantly and said. "it's simple, all I have to do is hack into his student e-mail, find his real e-mail address, then find his cell number if he's got it posted there, hack into his phone and activate its gps if it has one, and bingo I got it." He said snapping his fingers and then pointing at his computers screen.

Both Gwen and Bridgette then looked at the nerds screen. The screen showed a map of the university and a red dot in the main office building. Both of them were very much impressed with the awkward red heads abilities.

"ok that was impressive I'll give you that, but that only helps us a little. What if we get there and he's gone." Said Gwen folding her arms.

Harold after listening to the goths logic plugged a cordless adapter into his laptop and then started messing around with his PDA.

After a few seconds of silence and no answers Bridgette asked. "Hello?! Earth to Harold?"

Harold then turned back to them and annoyed said. "I'm trying to work, Gosh!" he then turned back to his computer desk and after a few more seconds of what appeared to be random typing on both his laptop and his PDA he turned back to the duo and said. "ok I've programed my PDA to work like my laptop and track Duncan's gps signal." He then gave them his pda.

Gwen taking the PDA asked. "ok we'll follow the signal but what will you do?"

"I'll stay here in case you need something." Answered Harold.

Bridgette skeptical asked. "Like what?"

"computer things duh! I'd try to explain them to you but I don't think you'd understand." Harold snorted which greatly annoyed the duo.

The Bridgette incredibly annoyed by his remark threatened. "fine, but if any of our stuff is missing or moved in any way we will kill you!"

"And if our drawers, or rooms are in any way different when we get back we will castrate you! If you've even got anything to castrate." Gwen threatened.

Harold hearing their threat only snorted and said. "why would I steal anything like that from you? When I've already got the most beautiful girl friend in the world."

His statement while one of the many things that has freaked the long time duo out in the last 24 hours still did not deter them from their clichéd quest and after fighting down the vomit caused by the nerds praise at his girlfriend, they left to find their other best friends supposed tormenter.

XXX

After the duo got followed the signal to Duncan and eventually made it to the entrance of the main office building of the campus they noticed something and Gwen who still had the PDA called Harold and said. "hey Harold we've got a problem. The PDA's map only shows us which building he is in not which floor or room. Any way you could narrow down the search?"

Harold on his PDA's speaker said. "Wow that is a problem. Um, just go in there and look around while I try and narrow down the search."

Bridgette who is confused at his lack of skill at this moment compared to how he was while they were in their dorm earlier asked. "Wait, why can't you just do it immediately like before?"

Harold in his usual arrogant and nerdy manner said. "Because before was super easy but this is super hard. But you wouldn't know anything about that so just…" Gwen hung up on the red head not needing to hear his condescending remarks.

The duo then entered the building and started looking around for Duncan. But unfortunately for them the main office building was about 10 stories up and 3 stories down and it was at least as long as a football field and about twice as wide, so the two soon discovered that trying to find duncan just by looking one room at a time was gonna be next to impossible.

Throughout the hours of searching the duo had asked people if they had seen Duncan usually without success.

"Well thanks anyway sir." Said Bridgette after another failed attempt to find Duncan by asking if they had seen him.

Frustrated the duo then walked to the lobby and the nearest empty pair of chairs. "Uh, this isn't working." Bridgette groaned.

"Well we probably shouldn't have just asked if these people had seen a "white, 5" 10', in shape Caucasian guy wearing a black hat of some kind." That's like every other guy in Canada." Said Gwen equally as frustrated.

Bridgette agreeing with their too ineffective way of finding Duncan advised. "Call Harold and see if he found a way to help."

Gwen did just that and called Harold on his PDA. "Hey Harold did you find a way to narrow the search yet?"

"No, not yet. But I have been working on…" Gwen immediately hung up after finding out that he couldn't help and said. "He couldn't help." Gwen then got up and said to her surfer friend. "Come on let's get going again. He's got to be here somewhere."

Bridgette followed and after turning a corner bumped into a much less jittery Courtney. "COURTNEY!" they both said in unison.

"High" she said weakly.

Bridgette being the first to respond asked. "What are you doing here?"

"um I work here. Remember I'm an intern!" she said very condescendingly at her friends.

"what? How long?" asked Gwen shocked.

"for like two weeks, I told you guys like a million times how could you not remember that?" she said even more condescendingly.

Bridgette then slammed her hand on her four head with Gwen making a frustrated face and said to Courtney. "Sorry it, it's just been a very hectic day for us ok."

"Whatever you're lucky I'm done for the day, what are you guys doing here?" Courtney asked walking back to the lobby that Gwen and Bridgette were just at.

Following their friend into the lobby Gwen said. "We came here looking for Duncan."

Courtney confused asked. "Why would you think he's here?"

"You know Harold, the guy who helped us find Duncan last time? He helped us this time too." Gwen said giving Courtney the redhead's PDA.

"the red dots duncan." Gwen said pointing at the PDA.

"it just says that he's in the building not which room. And this building is huge; you would be here all day trying to find him." Courtney said looking at the PDA.

"We have!" said Bridgette sitting back down in the same spot she was before and just as tired as before.

Sitting across from her friends Courtney asked. "Why do you guys want to find him anyway?"

"Because we know he did something to you yesterday on your date Courtney!" Bridgette said pointing at Courtney.

"Duncan didn't do anything to me last night, why do you think he did?" Courtney asked looking like she was lying.

Both Bridgette and Gwen gave Courtney suspicious looks and then Gwen asked. "Then explain why you were so f'ing freaked out last night?"

"And this morning!" Bridgette added.

"I was not freaked out!" Courtney defended.

After her statement both Gwen and Bridgette gave Courtney a death stair.

Courtney broke and said. "Ok fine! I was a little "freaked" but it's not because of Duncan. So could you just drop it?!"

"Oh really than you wouldn't mind telling us about your date with him yesterday?" asked Bridgette with a smirk.

"No, of course not, I'd be happy to." Courtney said with a straight face.

XXX

"Wow I can't believe you guys did that on your date" Bridgette said very surprised at what Courtney said she did with Duncan on their date.

"Yeah it sounds way more original than where Trent takes me to on our dates, and more fun." Gwen said agreeing with her friend.

"But you're still hiding something from us Courtney!" Gwen said pointing at Courtney.

"What no I'm not." Courtney said looking like she was lying.

"Courtney you can't lie, we all know it." Said Bridgette pointing at Courtney's face. "Did he rape you?" she asked assuming Duncan did the worst.

"No he didn't! Why do you think he did?!" asked Courtney shocked at her friend's accusation.

"Because we saw a picture of him with Joe smo and frank schmuck, their convicted and wanted rapists Courtney!" informed Bridgette.

"There's a picture? And you guy's saw it?" Courtney said freaking out at her friends knowledge.

"Yeah it was a security cam pic and it was on the news. It didn't show his face or yours but it showed you from the face down and Duncan from the back. We know it was Duncan because who else do you know who has Duncan's build and green hair?" said Bridgette accusingly at her increasingly freaked out friend.

"ITS ON THE NEWS!" Courtney asked looking like she was gonna throw up any minute.

"Yeah actually it's on right now." Gwen said pointing at the lobby's TV's set to the news channel.

"Hello this is Blaineley Vancouver's friendly news anchor woman, and this is top news. I'm here with the top breaking news involving the cities most wanted rapists Joe smo and frank schmuck."

Blaineley then pointed at the same picture the news station let out that morning she then pointed at Courtney then duncan in the picture and said. "This unfortunate young lady was their next victim and this young man with an "interesting" sense in hair is unknown at the moment. And here is the rest of the servalence camera footage."

The picture that was only taking up part of the space on the screen then enveloped the entire screen and then played starting at the beginning.

The tape had no sound only video and it started with Courtney and duncan walking down a side walk, then courtney being grabbed by the thugs, duncan trying to reason with them, then duncan pulling off his hat revealing his green faohawk, then duncan grabbing Joe's hand and breaking it then knocking him out, after which he pick up Joe's knife, dodging Franks swing with the crow bar and then pinning the knife at his throat. It then showed Frank dropping the crow bar and duncan moving the knife, it then showed frank pulling out a gun and duncan grabbing it. It then showed the scuffle over control of the gun, them landing on the ground, Frank inching the gun toward duncan's head, and then it showed duncan stabbing frank, and duncan pushing frank off himself.

It then shows just duncan standing up and pointing the gun at frank for a but, then frank trying to get up but falling right back down and holding his leg in pain. After a few moments of frank holding his leg, it showed frank getting up and it showed him and duncan talking for a few minutes, and then duncan slamming the revolver against the side of franks head. It then showed frank on the floor as still as a corps.

It then showed duncan just looking down at frank while courtney and the last mugger looked at him. After a few moments of this duncan pointed the gun at the last mugger who then let go of courtney and left running.

After which the servalince footage ends turning back to Blaineley who says. "Both of the joe and frank were found this morning barely alive in the street this morning from severe injuries.

The first mugger; Joe, suffered a broken arm in several places and a severe concussion, while the second; frank, had a severed leg tendon from the stab wound and was left with permanently brain damaged from the strike across the head from the Samaritan. Both of which are at Vancouver general under police guard, and after they have recovered enough both will be going off to prison where they will be spending the rest of there lives.

And Thank you young man for stopping those horrible thugs and avenging the countless women they have victimized, now on to later news…" the TV was then shut off by Gwen.

After watching the news cast Gwen and Bridgette looked back at Courtney who looked like she did last night: freaking out, rocking back and forth in her chair.

Looking at each other than at their greatly disturbed friend. They were both speechless, unable to talk after at the moment, letting the reality of what just happened sink in. Bridgette was the first to speak saying. "I am so sorry I didn't know."

Agreeing with her friend Gwen asked "are you alright did those guys hurt you before Duncan took care of them?"

Courtney slowing down her pace said kind of shaken. "No they didn't I'm fine." After which Courtney stopped rocking and sat sort of calmly in her chair.

Getting up Bridgette said. "Come on let's go home and get you some more hot chocolate."

Courtney and Gwen nodded got up and followed her to the exit of the building. But then Harold's PDA started vibrating. Gwen who had the PDA stopped and said "hold on guys Harold's calling." The other two stopped and looked at their friends barrowed PDA.

Gwen annoyed at Harold's bad timing asked. "What do you want Harold?"

"Gwen I found a way to find Duncan." Harold informed.

"Forget it. We're not interested in finding him anymore. Sorry for wasting your time." Gwen remarked.

"Wait your gonna want to hear this!" Harold tried to tell them.

"Um where has Harold been this whole time anyway if he was helping you guys?" Courtney asked

"In our dorm." Bridgette bluntly informed.

The PDA Gwen was holding was immediately snatched by Courtney who said harshly into it. "Listen here you little redheaded mother fucker if any of our stuff is missing or moved I will personally castrate you!"

Harold then scoffed not at all intimidated and remarked. "Relax gosh! I won't, I was already given this threat. But seriously you'll really want to hear this."

"And why is that?" Courtney asked into the PDA annoyed.

"Because he's in the dean's office." Harold informed slightly distressed shocking the trio.

"Who do you know that?" Bridgette asked skeptical.

"Um hello computer nerd! While I couldn't find a way to find Duncan I did manage to turn on his phone's speakers, so we'll be able to listen to him and everything he says or what someone says to him." He informed the greatly impressed girls.

"Interested now?" Harold asked.

Looking at her friends who looked almost equally interested she said. "Yes! Just give us a minute ok."

Courtney and her friends then went into a small one person bathroom and locked the door. After which she said to Harold. "Ok shoot."

"We have a problem."

_Over 5000 words and 14 pages that's almost twice my average I am very impressed with myself. So what do you guys think about this chapt and if you're wondering (unlikely) I wrote this as filler 1 hour TV episode between major events like their date day and what happens next. Please read and review_

_And here is the quote._

"_The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts."_


	11. FIRST STEPS

_A few things, again. One is sorry for the delay I have no excuses I am just lazy and that I love to procrastinate and two I own nothing and three this chapt will get courtney and her friends getting more involved in duncan's life AND four I have been told that this story works best when it is written in first so I will do that enjoy._

_This has been rewritten, enjoy, I own nothing._

**DESPERATION**

**CHAPT 11- FIRST STEPS**

DUNCANS' POV

Today, in the short version is; it _sucks_! Not only have I been spending the day trying to clean up the mess that was the end of my date with Courtney last night, but now I have to go to the dean's office where I'm gonna be chewed out for that mess.

"Wow, really?" I ask myself seeing an authentic gold plated sign next to the dean's office. Walking into the dean's office, I notice that the large swivel chair the dean has is turned to the other side of the office facing the very large painted portrait of himself. The office itself is mildly sized and overly decorated with things meant to inflate his ego; like pictures of himself and very accomplished students, degrees, or pictures of just himself. God this guy has a major superiority complex.

After looking around for a few seconds the dean, still facing his portrait says, "Close the door behind you Duncan."

I kick the door shut, and the second I do the dean swivels his large black chair until he is facing me and says a little annoyed, "We have a problem."

"I know. I've been doing everything I can to fix it." I say sitting down in one of the chairs in front of his desk and rubbing my left temple.

"Yeah, well that's not good enough Duncan! Do you have any idea what I had to do to make sure that the news didn't get a good look at your face? You endangered my entire operation with your little hero stunt." The dean said not at all happy.

Pissed off I rebuffed, "Hey, I almost died! You think I planned this?"

"Does it look like I care duncan! You should have let those animals have the bitch. But no you had to play the hero and try to save her." The dean said looking so pissed that he could pull out a gun from his desk and shoot me. And hey I wouldn't put it past him. But I don't care, not really. I just need to defend why I did it.

"Do you know who those two were? If I hadn't done that they would have raped her, or worse, and then the cops would have gotten involved, and I know how they operate. They would have gone straight to the boyfriend and would have done a full investigation into who I was." I said calmly, almost indifferently. It's the best way to explain yourself to a boss, I've done it before.

Seeing my logic he said reluctantly, "Fine, I see your point. But I'm still not happy about it Duncan. I'm in a huge hole right now in bribing or blackmailing the owners of the security camera's that caught you beating the crap out of those scum bags. Some of them got through to the media before I got a chance to stop it so I had to bribe or blackmail them, which was not cheap Duncan! One even managed to get through, luckily it was just a video that had no audio and only showed you from behind. We lucked out Duncan, 'you' lucked out."

"Don't bitch to me about that, we both know that you'll get that money back in less than a week. And you have no idea what I had to do to make sure that no real evidence got discovered." I said annoyed pointing at the dean.

"Oh, like what?" The dean asked skeptical.

"I had to sneak into the hospital and 'made sure' that those scum bags didn't give the cops anything useful in finding out who I was, and no, they didn't. Considering that I gave pretty bad concussions, so they didn't even know what happened since last week, which was the easy part-" I said, but was interrupted.

"Still waiting to be impressed Duncan."

"The hard part was sneaking into the Vancouver police department to see if they had any evidence on me."

The dean, intrigued, asked, "And did they?"

"Nothing major, but enough to pick up a trail." I informed.

"And you destroyed it right?" The dean asked looking a little worried.

"No dumbass! If evidence just disappeared that would make them more suspicious. What I did was inform a new guy, someone just out of the academy, you know a green overachiever, to organize the police files."

The dean, agitated, demanded, "How would that get rid of the evidence?"

Calmly and smugly I said, "Because those idiots always get it wrong and leave it buried in paper work and by the time it's found whatever trail they had will have been long cold. And even if they did, they couldn't charge with tampering with evidence since someone else did. We're in the clear."

The dean, who still looked a little agitated, said, "And you weren't caught?"

"Nope, just had to put on a police hat and a wind breaker saying, 'Vancouver police department', which they sell in the gift shop on campus."

The dean, after hearing me talk about my day and what I had to do, sat back in his chair looking like he just dropped a duce where he sat, then after a few seconds he said, "Okay, that's impressive, I'll give you that Duncan. Now what about the gun that you took off that 'frank' guy?"

"I disposed of it. Don't worry, neither the cops or anyone else will find it, and even if they did I removed all the blood, and finger prints." I informed.

"what about the third mugger? The one that got away?"

"He won't do anything, I'm sure of it."

"and what makes you so sure?" the dean asked skeptical.

"because I tracked him down last night and I put the gun to his head, and I told him if he ever did he would wish he would end up like his friends." I said to him remembering what I had to do after I dropped off courtney.

He then smiled and shook his head. The dean then asked. "How do you know how to do all that?"

I gave him a weird look, wondering if this was him trying to find out more about me so that he could use it against me in the future, or if it was just a question. I decided not to take any chances and said, "We all got our secrets, man."

The dean then smiled at my response and said, "Yes we do. Now onto new business, because of this little fiasco of yours, you're going to have to keep a low profile for a while."

I nod in agreement.

"So you're going to fight only one night a week instead of two and you are only going to be practicing with the others two nights instead of three."

"Okay, that sounds great, but I'm hearing a 'but' coming."

Looking incredibly arrogant the dean's smirk grew and he said, "'But' you're going to be fighting tonight."

"What the fuck are you talking about? Didn't you just say I should keep a low profile! And in two days it's gonna be thanksgiving, you know the cops are more active during the holidays! Are you insane?" I said fucking outraged.

The dean, pissed at my outburst, said while getting up from his chair, "Hey, don't forget who's the boss here!"

Not at all intimidated I said, "Shut up and tell me why I'm doing it tonight."

Sitting back down, but still looking pissed as hell, he said, "Because of your 'hero' fiasco I'm in a huge hole right now and I need some immediate cash, and like you said the cops are more active during the holidays, so I need more money to bribe them. So…" The dean said making a money gesture. I did not buy this for a minute, but before I could say anything the dean continued saying.

"And I'm going to take full advantage of this rare opportunity of free PR for the fight club and my main attraction," he said pointing at me. "Plus, the fight club is getting so popular that the mayor himself is getting interested. Do you have any idea what that means?" The dean almost screamed at me.

I was a little surprised at what he just said regarding the mayor, but quickly got over it. Whenever crime gets so profitable it's only a matter of time until the small time government gets involved to either take it down or take a cut. Although, the latter is usually more likely to happen unless they're going for reelection and need a good PR stunt, and the mayor's not, 'hurray'.

"Oh, I have a few ideas." I said kind of joking.

"It means this is my chance to make some SERIOUS CASH!" he said standing up, looking like he was about jizz in his pants at the news and holding up his hand rolled up into fists.

A little weirded out by this, but still skeptical, I asked, "Yeah, that's great… but, uh, how do you know he's not part of a way to take down the fight club instead?"

Calming the fuck down finally and sitting back in his chair he said, "Because he's taking a large cut from it, and in exchange he's bringing in his business and political friends and associates. And even if he didn't he still wouldn't do that because I've got some serious blackmail material on him."

"You mean besides the whole illegal fight club thing, you mean," I said joking. "And what you got on him?" I asked really curious.

The dean smirked at this in his usual arrogant manner and said. "We all got our secrets, man."

I little chuckle at what he said and asked calmly, "So who am I fighting?"

"That's a surprise, but I'm sure you can handle it." The dean said putting his hands in a triangle position.

"Fine, but let me tell you right now if it's gonna be three people agai-" I tried to say but was interrupted.

"Relax, its less than three," he informed.

"I'm not going to like it, am I?" I asked knowing my sadistic boss.

"Oh, Duncan, don't be like that. I'll like it, the crowd will like it. Why don't you like it?" The dean said sitting back into his chair smirking.

"Because I'm not sick, unlike some people I'm forced to be involved with." I said looking straight at the dean.

He did nothing in response to my insult, he just kept grinning. Okay, good sign. If he's that cut into this I could use this to my advantage. "Alright, fine, but if I do this I will need a few conditions."

"Duncan, you work for me, you don't get to make demands or negotiate," he said looking even more arrogant than before, good.

"I said need, not want. These are necessities." I said getting him to hear me.

The dean then looked really intrigued, good sign, "Fine, what are they?"

"I need you to pull some strings so my homework is cut." I stated.

"You would like that wouldn't you? I fail to see how that is a necessity Duncan," he said skeptically.

"Because if I'm going to be keeping a low profile, and the cops are looking for a beat up guy who hides his hair then I'm going to need my rest, and I can't do that if I'm doing homework, or practicing all night. So cut it and take me out of the ludus until this all blows over" I said sternly, but calmly so he won't feel threatened of losing his alpha male status. Greedy assholes like him are always afraid of that, but they're afraid of losing their money.

After a few seconds of what looked like hard consideration, which I've got to say is pretty hard for a pie brained idiot like him, he said, "Fine, I'll cut some of your usual homework, for now. And are you _sure_ that you will not need to practice in the ludus to keep up with the other fighters until this is over with?"

I shook my head and answered simply. "Yes."

"Alright then."

"Great, well if that's all I think I'll get going." I said getting out of my seat, but before I could get out all the way the dean asked.

"Wait, before you go just remember to make sure the people get their money's worth, okay, Duncan? Or I'll make it interesting. I, we, got a lot riding on this Duncan. You got that?" he said completely serious.

"Oh, don't worry, I'll make sure they get every cent." I said walking out the door and leaving. After hearing me say that I could tell the dean was not amused, but I didn't care so I just walked out.

XXX

COURTNEY'S POV

"Oh, don't worry, I'll make sure they get every cent." Duncan said sounding sarcastic.

After a few seconds of awkward and really tense silence I practically scream, "What the fuck just happened!? Duncan, police station, mayor, fight money!"

"Uh, I'm hyperventilating again!" I said pulling out the paper bag I brought with me for this exact situation.

Before either of my friends could say anything Harold interjected on the PDA I was holding saying, "I don't know, but I suggest that you come back to your dorm and discuss it here before you're found out."

"Fine, we'll be there soon." I said opening the door and leaving the small bathroom with my friends, while I was still breathing in and out of the bag. Some people were giving us strange looks, but I was too freaked out to care.

XXX

When we got into the dorms, and then into the living room of the dorms, we could still see all of my empty plastic cups of hot chocolate and coffee, which by the way sounds very good right now because of what I just overheard in Duncan and the deans conversation. We could also see Harold still messing around on his computer, doing god knows what, and all of his gadgets out on the computer desk. Usually I would make a comment about him over staying his welcome, but I'm just too freaked out right now. Good thing Gwen did it for me.

"Glad you made yourself at home." Gwen said sarcastically at the nerd while rolling her eyes.

Still freaked out I order, "Forget about that, we need to focus on what just happened! Duncan breaking into hospital, then a police station, coving up evidence, then going out and threatening that last mugger."

"And the dean bribing the media not to show more of what happed last night, figures." Bridgette added.

"And Duncan fighting tonight and the mayor knows about this and is taking a profit from it." Gwen continued folding her arms.

"Nhaa! I can't take this; I'm going to make some more hot chocolate." I said walking over into the kitchen and getting out some freshly bought hot chocolate mix.

"What I want to know is how Duncan can do all that: the fighting, the breaking in without getting caught, and even the dean doesn't know how he can do that." Bridgette said counting off with her fingers each time while looking a little confused.

After mixing up my drink and putting it into a microwave I said looking back at my friends, "Well don't ask me, I have no idea."

Gwen looking a little confused, ah who am I kidding? When you're up to your neck in something like this if you're not confused something's wrong with you. I'll just say that we look 'normal' now. Like I was narrating, Gwen looking 'normal' asks, "Hey, Courtney, how come you didn't know that what happened to you was on the news this morning?"

Even more 'normal' than before I ask her, "What are you talking about?"

"This morning after you chugged the last bit of your coffee you left after you saw a picture of you, Duncan, and those thugs. And at the office building you didn't know that there was gonna be a video of you on the news." Gwen said while I was getting the hot chocolate out of the microwave and waiting for it to cool off.

"Um, in case you hadn't noticed I was a little _out of my mind_ from almost getting raped and seeing duncan almost being killed last night!" I said a 'little' condescendingly, but I didn't care. I then drank a little of my still hot, hot chocolate and burnt my tongue a little bit. I then said, "Look I admit it, okay, I could barely keep it together today from the stress of this week, the almost rape thing, seeing duncan almost die, and all the coffee and hot chocolate I drank. I didn't even get any sleep last night. I think I just saw the picture and ran off, okay." I said drinking more of the slightly less hot, hot chocolate. And I got to admit after my little outburst I felt a lot better.

Bridgette, noticing this, asks smiling, "Feel a bit better now?"

I nod at her question also smiling. I then try to think on how Duncan could have known how to do all that, and then I remember our date and what happened at the Starbucks with the cashier, then him explaining the mugging thing to me.

"Um, Courtney, are you alright?" asked Gwen breaking my concentration.

"Um, yeah, why wouldn't I be?" I asked lying again.

"Because you're fidgeting like you always do when you got something," she pointed out.

I notice that I was indeed fidgeting like before. Damn my inability to lie. I then say, "No, I'm fine."

"Courtney, you've got your lying face on again," Bridgette said this time. Damn it, why do they always blitz me like that? "Okay, fine, geez! Look, on our date… Duncan knew stuff."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean when we were at Starbucks he pointed out a scam that the cashier was doing, and he got him to give not only my money back, but also a lot more. He also told me how thieves, con men and assaulters work and think, and how the media and police handle it. And every time he sounded like he knew exactly what he was talking about." I stated still a little weirded out by his knowledge.

After hearing what I just said about Duncan's apparent knowledge of crime along with the current news of his new criminal enterprise with the mayor's involvement. We are all getting so f'ing 'normal' it's making my head hurt. "Nhaa! How do detectives handle this kind of crap!" I ask out loud.

"I don't know, but could you keep it down? I'm trying to work here, gosh!" Harold said while still doing seemingly random typing.

Very annoyed by what he just said, so much so that I subconsciously walk over to him ready to slam his head down on his laptop. But before I had the chance to take it and smash him with it continuously, I was interrupted by Gwen who asked, "What the hell are you even still doing here?"

Bridgett then added. "We already found Duncan we don't need you anymore, what could you possibly be doing?"

Still typing on his computer, he says with his same arrogant nerdy mannerism. "I'm doing what you have been bitching about for the last 15 minutes! I'm looking up stuff on Duncan. Duh!"

After hearing that, I just couldn't take it anymore so I forcibly turned his chair around so that he was facing me, grabbed him by the shirt collar and threatened, "Okay I've had enough of your crap! If you don't give me something useful and tell me what you've learned in five seconds I'm gonna take your laptop and smash it over your head until either it breaks open, or your head does!"

Looking scared shitless, Harold says almost crying, "I did find something, something worth not hurting me or my laptop! Just put me down and I'll tell you. Please!"

I then immediately let him go, and oh God, let me tell you it felt good doing that to that really annoying redheaded W.O.W. nerd, who has been demeaning us since we met him.

Harold then takes out his inhaler and while shaking it up he says, "I found out that I couldn't find anything about him, and I mean anything." He then takes a shot of his inhaler.

"Well, duh. The dean probably had it so that it would be hard to find anything on his investment." Bridgette said not impressed with Harold's findings, and neither was I so I said, "If that's it say goodbye to your laptop." I then falsely reached for his computer, but before I could 'get at it' he slammed the top down and grabbed it and said almost crying,

"Wait! The reason that's important is that I'm one of the best computer hackers in Canada, and for the dean to do this he would have to hire a corporate sponsored privet identity protector to do this, and those guys aren't cheap."

"Okay, anything else?" I ask with my hands on my hips in what Gwen would say is my, chewing out position.

Calming down he put his laptop back on the computer desk and said. "Yeah, I've been doing some digging and found out some more stuff about the Vancouver fight club."

"Which is?" Gwen asked, also in chewing out position.

"I found out that it's been going on for about 10 years and that in the last few it's been just scraping by and that after Duncan joined up its been booming," he said while taking another hit from his inhaler.

"Okay, how could you find all of that?" I asked very skeptical.

He simply says while opening up his laptop again, "Facebook."

"What?"

"Yeah, you have no idea how many idiots are on in, and apparently a lot of them go to the Vancouver fight club. I even found one of the fighters online."

"Okay, no way someone would be that stupid to post that on Facebook."

"Well apparently he is." Harold said pulling up his profile and showing us them, then Harold said, "He said his stage name is big 0 and that he got his butt kicked by the green hood a few days ago in a fight."

Looking at his profile we could tell that it was that walking stomach that Duncan fought against last week. He looked basically the same only he had a black eye, and a broken nose, both looked like they were healing up well. I then ask, "Why would he put that up? Doesn't he know he could get in trouble doing that?"

Harold, after hearing my question, takes his computer back types some more and says while doing that, "Apparently no one's taking him seriously, and I think he's just doing this to get some fame considering he just posted anything involving the fights after the news showing the security footage of him beating those guys up, but like I said no one's taking him seriously, or at least on one's posting that they are."

"Well, can you take it down? It's only a matter of time until the cops notice this and it leads back to Duncan." I ask concerned.

"Sure I can, but you should know I also have his name and address, and I just e-mailed them to my PDA."

I then look at the PDA and notice that I have a new e-mail that has big 0's real name and address. Still a little peeved at him I ask annoyed, "Okay, genius, what do we do now?"

He then turned around to face us again and was about to say something in his usual demeaning manner, but was stopped the second he saw me, so he then said, still looking a little scared, "Well, um, Courtney, you go and see Duncan and see if you can get anything out of him, and me, Gwen, and Bridgette will go see this big 0 and see if we can get any information from him and we'll meet back at the warehouse and tell each other what we learned, before or after Duncan fights this mystery opponent, depending on what time we get there. You know if you want to go there and see that?"

"Yeah, of course I want to go, I kinda owe him for saving me last night." I said just before I took one last gulp from my hot chocolate in reminder of last night, but yeah, I do owe him for that no matter what he's involved in.

"Okay, good to hear. Now we should get going, we only have a few hours until Duncan has to fight." Harold said picking up all his gear into his back pack.

"Courtney, are you sure you want to do this?" asked Gwen concerned.

"You're kidding right? I'm dying to know what's going. The real question is do you guys want to do this? I mean, this is mostly between me and Duncan, so you don't have to do this." I stop for a few seconds to look at my friends, whose looks don't really have an expression I can describe on their face, except Harold who is not my friend, so I don't really care, but by the look of it wants to do this. I then continue. "I know this is dangerous and very… Hell, I don't even know, but you guys don't have to…"

"Let me just stop you right there, Courtney. We're with you on this. We didn't abandon you with Alejandro, and we won't do it now." Bridgette said looking at me completely serious.

"But guy's that's different, this is dangerous." I said trying to deter them from endangering themselves.

"So was stopping alejandro from hurting you more, and we still did it." Gwen said smugly smiling.

"Yeah, but-"

"No buts Court, besides, Duncan almost died making sure we didn't lose our best friend." Bridgette said also smiling.

We all just smile silently at this for a few seconds, enjoying the friend moment. "And besides when this is eventually made into a movie, no way are we getting cut out of it." Gwen joked trying to lighten the mood, which worked and we all started laughing a little bit.

Harold of course had to ruin this by saying, "Okay, now that the chick flick moment is done, can we please get back to focusing on the small amount of time we have left, or are you guys going to have pillow fight in your jammies? Because I'm good either way."

We all then look at him super pissed off. I then say, "Uhh couldn't you have just shut up until we talked to you instead of ruining a really good moment?"

"Um, no! We've got to get going now. Also, Courtney, when you talk to Duncan try not to let him know that we know about his meeting with the dean, or let him know about us trying to find out stuff about all this, okay?"

"Why, what's wrong with letting him know?" asked Bridgette giving Harold a 'normal' face.

"Because one, he would probably just deny it, and two, the dean probably has some insurance on Duncan that we and maybe not even he, knows about. So let's be careful, okay?"

"Fine, I see your point. But I still don't like it. You've been bad mouthing Duncan since the day you first met him, and he has done nothing bad." I said painfully annoyed by our friendly neighborhood tech support guy.

"Maybe, but I'm not wrong. Now, if you're done we really need to get going," he said walking out of the dorm with all of us following.

XXX

DUNCAN'S POV

After the meeting with the dean I went back to my dorm room to get a head start on my diminished homework, and by the way have I said 'Hallelujah!'? Well, if I haven't I just did.

I can't believe this city; the hospital was easy enough to break into, but the police station? It was just like the one in back home, same hard ass chief, ball breakers, go getters, the schmucks, the other guy's, hell, even that overachieving new guy doing the paper work who always gets it wrong. 'Course it was easier considering none of them knew who I was, unlike back home where everyone knew who I was, though that will happen when your dad's the police chief. God, he would have been so pissed if he knew I broke into this city's police station like I did at his. "Ha ha!"

And of course that could have all been avoided if those scum bags hadn't ruined my date with Courtney. "Holy shit, Courtney!" I am such a douchebag for not thinking of her sooner, Jesus she must be losing her mind. I thought reaching into my pocket, getting my phone to call her, but the second I do my phone starts vibrating. Holy crap, she's calling me. I then answer the phone saying, "Courtney, I'm so sorry for not calling but I've been busy. Are you okay?"

"It's fine, Duncan, and yes, I'm fine," she said calmly, but I didn't believe it for a second, girls like Courtney always hold in what's really bothering them until it boils over and they crack. But I better not pry into it and make it worse right now, not until I'm with her, after all I am the cause of this.

I then ask her, trying to keep this conversation going so she doesn't crack further, talking, even small talk usually keeps the wall up for a little bit, "So how was your day?"

"Um, after I chugged like 5 cups of hot chocolate and 6 cups of coffee, alright," she said sounding serious.

I have no idea what that means, so I say, "Um, okay."

"Duncan we need to talk," she said with the standard I'm gonna break up with you voice with the standard I'm gonna break up with saying. Oh well, kind of knew this was coming. "I'm at my dorm right now, where are you?"

"I'm right outside of your dorm, I just called to see if you were there."

I then hear a knock coming from the door to my dorm room. I then walk over to it and open it. I see a perfectly fine looking Courtney. This either means that she's really good at holding in her emotions or that she cracked and is about to cut my head off. "Um, come in." I say weakly.

She then lunges at me and hugs me, with tears running down her face and on to my shirt. Oh, great, she's f'ing crying! How the hell am I supposed to handle this? I've never had to comfort a girl before, I usually make the girl like this and she goes to her old boyfriend or her friends. Guess I am the boyfriend in this one. Um, um, what did sis say you should do when this happens? Oh right. I then hug her back and say, "It's okay Courtney, everything's going to be alright."

This seems to work because after a few seconds she calms down and let's go and after that she says, "Thank you." while wiping away a few tears.

Still kinda confused at this I say, "So I guess you're not breaking up with me."

"Why would I do that?" she asked looking confused.

"Because whenever someone says that they have to talk, it's usually for that." I joked, which we both found a little funny and laughed a little bit.

After we stop laughing she says, "Quite the contrary, I wanted to say thank you for saving me last night."

"Well, you're welcome. When I took off my hat to show them my ridiculous hair I was hoping that it would scare them away, but it didn't work. Sorry about not calling you and making sure you were alright. I've just been busy making sure that the cops didn't find out about who I am."

"How is that going?" she asked.

"As well as expected, but they didn't get anything." I informed her, not telling her what I had to do to accomplish that.

"That's good, how's the dean's taking it?"

"Not well, but the good news is that thanks to that I only have to fight twice a week and only have to do about half of the home work, so now I'll finally get some sleep. Hell, I might even get close to being a regular college student." I joked. We both laugh.

She then says kind of awkwardly, "That's good."

Not knowing what else to say I go with, "And I could spend some more time with you. If you want."

"Yeah, I'd like that," she said happily, but awkwardly and smiling. We then have a few moments of awkward silence until she says, "I know I said this before, but the only reason I dated you was because I thought you were boring and could help me with my homework, and you were hot."

"You didn't say the hot part, but I'm flattered." I flirt and she then giggles, that always works.

She then continues saying, "And the reason for that is in high school my last real boyfriend was nothing like that; he was fun, he took me places, treated me right, we were close, and he came from an elite family like I did, it was like it was perfect. Something out of a damn fairy tail."

"But?" I asked because in this kind of situation there always is one.

She then continues, "Yeah, 'but' during all of it he was actually just using me, trying to get all of the power and prestige he could and using me as the fall person. And when Gwen and Bridgette finally got me to see it, I was crushed, I didn't want to believe it, but deep down I knew they were right. So I broke up with him. And after he almost destroyed my life. But you're nothing like him. You didn't use me for some sick thrill, you did it because you wanted some semblance of normalcy and when I found out the real you, you didn't try to wreck my life, you were actually… nice. I'm glad I found the real you," she said smiling happily at me.

Okay, I have no idea how to handle this, like at all. But she gave me her back story so I might as well give her mine. Well enough of it.

"I- I don't know if this will mean much but in high school I was a- I wasn't the nicest guy. Whatever girlfriends I had only lasted a few weeks and whatever 'friends' I had were pretty bad ones. And at home it wasn't any better. None of my brothers really thought I was part of the family and after my mom died my Dad never liked having me around. In short, I never really had someone looking after me, not really. And it's, kind of, nice... Thanks."

Then for I don't know reason, we got closer to each other and we started kissing, and it was the best damn make out session I ever had. And I had some good ones, and I'm glad it was with her. We kept doing this for as long as we could until we had to come up for air. God I hate breathing.

After we were done inhaling and exhaling she said, "That was amazing."

"Yeah, it was." I agreed. Then my phone's clock alarm went off, damn it.

NOT AFRAID, TO TAKE A STAND, EVERYBODY…

I then hang up the phone and say to her, "Oh, did I mention that I had to fight tonight?"

She then giggles a bit and says, "Um, no, you didn't. Who do you have to fight anyway?"

"Don't know, I'll find out when I get there. Sorry princess, I gotta go." I said walking to the door.

But she then says while blocking my way, "I'm coming too."

Okay, that I was not expecting so I ask, "Are you sure?"

She then bluntly says, "After that movie moment, you're really asking me that?"

Nice, gotta give her props for that. "Okay, but you gotta take your own car. We can't have those idiots figuring out you're the girl in the news video or my girlfriend." I said while she and I walk out of my dorm and into our separate cars.

_Well that's the end for chapt 11 hoped you enjoyed it. I originally planed for this to keep going until after the fight but I thought that this was a good place to stop. I also hope you enjoyed how much courtney- duncan the last part of the chapt was, and I promise that there will be more in the future. Please read and review._

"The first step towards getting somewhere is to decide that you are not going to stay where you are."

-I just found that one on google and thought it sounded cool.


	12. Martyr

_Hello everyone sorry its been so long its just that in the last chapter I worked really hard on it and I didn't get the response I wanted which was really frustrating. But now I'm over that and I have a new chapter for you, its mostly action but it does have a purpose. It will show you just how far Chris is willing to go to keep his "guests" entertained and how sadistic he really is. Please read and review I own nothing._

_This has been rewritten I own nothing._

**DESPERATION**

**Chapter 12- Martyr**

COURTNEY'S POV

I'm in my car alone driving to the warehouse on the west side, which, surprisingly, is actually pretty quiet tonight. I don't see any muggings, or signs of any kinds of theft. Yeah, I see a few people just walking around looking like they are just going from A to B, but other than that it's like a ghost town. It's the strangest thing I've ever see…. Wow, I almost thought that this was the strangest thing I've ever seen. From what's been going on in my life recently, not so much, but yeah, it's pretty odd considering that this is the west side of Vancouver. Crime should be rampant here. Where is everybody?

I see the intersection to get to the warehouse, and I turn into it and see car after car in any and all parking spaces. I see some people getting out of them, and all are heading in the same direction- the entrance to the warehouse.

"Guess that answers my question." I say out loud. I then try to find a spot to park my own car, but I'm finding it pretty hard since any and all spaces are all but taken. All except for the front because I'm guessing that if the cops show up they want a quick getaway. Huh, I guess criminals aren't so stupid after all. But since I don't really have much choice I park up front close to the warehouse, right next to the side entrance that me and my friends tried using to get in last time.

I get out of my car, but not before making sure all of whatever looks even sort of valuable is hidden or locked away. I then look around to see that the entrance, like before, was guarded by a bouncer, but unlike last time when it was just one, there are now three of them. Two of them are just pushing back the crowd, letting in one at a time, and the third is taking in the money to allow them in.

Before I walk over I take out my phone and say, "I wonder how the others are doing."

I then call Bridgette. It takes a few rings, but she then answers. "Courtney! Where are you?"

"I'm outside. Where are you, Gwen, and Harold?"

"We're already inside the warehouse waiting for you."

"Alright, I'll be there soon." I say, but before I hang up Bridgette says,

"Wait, Courtney, the price of admission went up. Now you have to pay $45 instead of $35."

"What? That's crazy!" I scream outraged.

"Sorry Court, see you in here," she says hanging up.

I cannot believe they raised the price of getting in here. I mean, come on, it was expensive enough getting in here before. Assholes. I then walk over to the large crowd trying to get in themselves. Before I try to shove through the crowd I notice that these animals are mostly drunk guys, and drunk guys disgust me. The way they smell, the way they talk, and the way they try to get with me, ewww. Just looking at the herd of drunken testosterone makes me want to turn around and leave. But I know that I have no choice. This is for Duncan, and I repeat that with every step I take trying to get into the crowd.

When I get to the line I try to shove myself through it. And every other second I hear one of them say, "Hey hot stuff, how you doin' tonight?" or "Hey baby, how about you and me go back to my place huh?". It's driving me fucking insane with rage; I swear if Duncan hadn't saved my life I so wouldn't be doing this.

Just before I get to the front I feel something brush and squeeze my chest, I then look down and see an arm, and then I look at the guy who did it. He's smiling! He's fucking smiling. Oh, I'll give him something to smile about. I then turn to him and yell "Fuck off!" and I knee him as hard as I can right in his groin.

The dumbass makes a face of extreme pain and falls over; he then lays there in the fetal position holding his groin. God, that felt great. I then look around and see that everyone in the crowd is either looking at me or the guy I just knee'd. Still angry as hell I scream, "Who else wants some!"

They immediately back off. "Yeah, that's what I thought." I said while walking through the new clear path to the bouncer.

"It's $45 bucks getting in," he says holding out his hand ready for me to give him my money.

"Here." I say giving him cash that should be paying for my food for the next few days. The bouncer then opens the door and lets me though and closes it again after I walk through it.

I go the same way I did before to get to the giant room that has the ring. When I get there I see that it is jam packed with people, all of them are cheering for the fighters in the ring. One is in a cowboy like get up, and the other is in a truckers costume, hat and all.

"Okay, no way am I gonna find the guy's in this mess." I say while taking out my phone. I call Bridgette again. "Hey Bridgette, I'm at the entrance, where are you guys?"

"Oh, hey Courtney, we can see you, turn to your left."

I do as she says, and I can see in the crowd three heads with the color schemes of my friends, with arms waving at me. I then walk over to them. When I get there both Gwen and Bridgette hug me really hard. "Guys, can't breathe."

They then release me. "Sorry, we're just so glad to see that you're alright."

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"Well, it's just that the last time you were in this part of town, and this place, and the guys here."

"Yeah, I totally get it. I even had some trouble getting in here. But it wasn't anything I couldn't handle. And besides I still have Gwen's tazer. Oh, that reminds me, do you want your tazer back Gwen?" I ask pulling out the tazer I had in my pocket.

"No, it's fine, you keep it. I'll just get another one. You obviously need it more than me." Gwen said.

"Wait, you had trouble getting here? What kind of trouble? Are you alright?" Bridgette asked getting all panicky in her motherly sort of way.

"It was nothing, relax." I said trying to get her to drop it, but all she does is scowl at me. Dang, should have known it wouldn't be that easy.

"Okay, fine. At the door some guys hit on me, and one even copped a feel, but don't worry I knee'd him right in the kiwis. And as soon as he dropped over they let me right to the front." I said feeling awesome. God, it felt good to finally let loose some steam, especially on those idiots at the door.

Bridgette still seems a little worried but Gwen comes up to me and gives me a high five. "Nice! Those idiots didn't know who they were messing with."

Before any of us can say anything else Harold annoyingly asks. "ok enough. Where's duncan?"

"Duncan left 10 minutes before me so that it wouldn't look suspicious. He should be getting ready for the fights."

"Did you find anything?"

"Well… no, I didn't really ask him anything."

"Courtney! That's why you went over there."

"Hey, piss off, nerd boy. I went over there to thank him for risking his life saving mine."

"Okay, sorry, geez." Harold said backing away from me. Huh, that's the first smart thing I've seen him do since the day I met him.

"Now, what did you guy's find?"

"Courtney, you're not gonna believe it. The dean is…"

**"AND THE WINNER IS, TRUCKERRRR!"**

All four of us then turn to the ring to see a beat up 'trucker' waving his arms around like an idiot, and the cow boy guy being dragged away by some of the security guys.

**"HELLO EVERYBODY! WE'VE GOT A REAL TREAT FOR YOU TONIGHT! THE DYNAMIC DUO, ALL THE WAY FROM ONTARIO, IS HERE TO GIVE THE EMRALD KING THE FIGHT FOR HIS LIFE HE DESERVES!"**

After he says that, two huge guys come in doing a show boating routine. And I don't believe it, they're, they're-

**"GIVE IT UP FOR, TWIN CITIES!"**

Yeah, they're actually twins, f'ing twins, man, the dean must really be running low on gimmicks. The fighters, called Twin Cities, are wearing shiny silver or chrome outfits with red color schemes.

**"OH YEAH! THE RISING STAR IS IN THE HOUSE, THE GREEEEEEN HOOOOOOD!"**

Duncan then comes in, just walking up to the ring, doing nothing spectacular or stupid like what the twins did since he doesn't need an introduction. Duncan was wearing a tight dark green t-shirt with black pants and black sneakers. Duncan then goes to his corner of the ring, starring down his two competitors.

"So, you think we should be worried for him? You know considering the last time we saw him fight?" asked one of my friends.

Before I could say anything, the announcer rang the bell, and one of the twins charged at Duncan. Duncan jumped toward the charging twin, and using both of his legs, kicked him square in the chest. Both Duncan and the twin were thrown back, but Duncan landed on his feet while the twin landed on his back and started coughing like crazy.

"No, I don't think so." I answered completely confident that Duncan could handle himself.

After I say that, the other twin goes after Duncan, punching him relentlessly. But Duncan had his arms up blocking every hit.

"Um, are you guys sure he can take it? It's still two against one here." asked Harold.

I scoff at that, turn to him and say, "Yes, he can take it! Last time he fought three of them, and they were all much scarier than these chumps."

I then hear a giant thump coming from the ring, and I see that the twin that was punching Duncan on the ground holding his now bloody nose. I then look back at Harold, who is in awe of what Duncan can do. "Told you." I say with a huge smile.

This goes on for a few minutes, with the twins attacking Duncan, but never managing to really do any damage, and then Duncan retaliates knocking them down on the ground. "How long is Duncan gonna make this fight last? He's obviously holding back."

"I don't know, but the dean did order him to stretch out the fight." I said not really caring. I'm just glad that Duncan isn't hurt.

"Besides, no one here really seems to mind." Said Gwen pointing at the crowd, who are still cheering like the idiots they are.

"Actually someone seems to mind. Look." Harold said pointing at the announcer up at his podium, who is looking really mad. The announcer then pulls out his phone and answers it.

"Who do you think that is?" Bridgette asks.

"I'll give you one guess." Joked Harold.

While I couldn't hear anything the announcer was saying to the guy on the phone, I could still make out a few words from his lips: boss, kid, pain, and okay. Oh, God, that does not sound good. The announcer then hangs up and puts the phone back into his pocket. He then gives some kind of order to the security guys because two of them leave for some reason. The announcer then grabs his mic and says. **"NEWBIES AREN'T DOING SO HOT, SO LET'S GIVE 'EM SOME HELP!"**

The guards from before show up at the ring and toss in a wooden baseball bat and a folding chair. The twins quickly grab their new weapons and look really eager to use them. I look at Duncan and even with the crowd screaming I can still almost hear him say 'crap'. The one with the bat takes a swing at Duncan, but Duncan dodges and hits him in the side of the head, knocking him a few feet back. But before Duncan knows it, the other twin with the folding chair, hits Duncan right in the ribs. Duncan is visibly in pain and walks back a few steps holding his side.

"Oh my god, we have to stop this before Duncan gets seriously hurt!" I scream at my friends. And who, by the look of it, are almost as worried about him as I am.

Before they have a chance to say anything I turn back to the ring to see the chair twin take another swing at Duncan, hitting him on the side of the head, knocking duncan down on his knees. I'm about to run to the ring and try to help Duncan, but I am stopped by my Gwen and Bridgette, who caught onto what I was about to do. One of them says "Courtney, there's nothing you can do."

Before I can say or do anything the announcer says. **"OH YEAH, AND DOWN GOES THE GREEN BOY!"**

Hearing that, I struggle as hard as I can to get out of my friends grip, but I just can't get free. "Damn it, let me go! We've got to help him!"

"Courtney, if you went up there, all you would be doing is getting beaten up along with him, and that's not helping," said Gwen.

After hearing her I realize that she is right, there really is nothing I can do. "DAMN IT! The poor basterd almost died yesterday saving my life, now he's gonna die tonight and I can't even help him."

"Relax! We are helping him," said Harold.

I turn to him and ask him, "Yeah, what! From where I'm standing we're watching him get the crap beaten out of him."

"I'm recording the whole thing. And I have been from the start."

Confused I ask, "Where, I don't see a camera or a phone?"

"There's a mini camera in my hat," he said pointing at his baseball cap.

Surprised at his I say. "You know you're a lot more useful than we give you credit for."

"I know."

I look back at the ring to see that Duncan is kinda holding his own. He's still throwing punches and kicks back, but now instead of taking the hits he's trying to dodge them by backing up and then retaliating like before.

After seeing Duncan punching the chair twin in the stomach and elbowing him in the eye, pushing him, back I say, "What was I worried about? Duncan can handle himself just fine."

"Yeah, you did kind of go over the top there," said Bridgette smirking.

"Shut up! And, oh, what the hell? GO GREEN HOOD, WOOOO!"

Not seeing a reason to not cheer Gwen and Bridgette cheer as well. "WOOO, GREEN HOOD!"

"KICK THEIR ASS!"

We then see Duncan dodge another punch from the chair twin, and then he kicks down on one of his knee's, forcing him down. Duncan then punches him right in the eye and on to his back. Oh yeah, Duncan is definitely gonna win.

But before I can cheer again, the one with the bat swings and hits Duncan right in the chest, forcing him back a few feet. He then punches Duncan right in the face, knocking him right into the corner. Duncan, still visibly woozy from the hit he was obviously not expecting, did not block the next hit from the tip of the bat that was jabbed right into his stomach. Duncan then fell on the ground, visibly in pain. Oh god. But before I'm able to say or think anything I hear from Harold. "I think you just jinxed it."

I turn to him with a shocked expression, but again before I can do anything I hear. "**AND DOWN GOES THE GREEN HOOD!"**

Still not moving the announcer starts, **"HE'S NOT GETTING BACK UP START THE COUNT! 1. 2. 3..."** but before the announcer can complete the count Duncan gets back up on his knees and arms.

**"OH, THE FIGHT AINT OVER YET FOLKS! GET UP BITCH, AND TAKE THIS ASS WHOOPING LIKE A MAN!"**

Duncan, looking very pissed off, looks at the announcer like he is about to murder someone. Then the twin with the bat swings it down at Duncan, but instead of smashing his head, Duncan grabs it and pulls the twin to him. Duncan than rapidly punches the guy in the face with his left hand, while the right was holding the bat. Duncan then stands up and punches extra hard making the guy let go of the bat and fall to the ground. Duncan then takes the bat and smashes it down on the twin in the same spot he hit him in only a few moments ago, making the twin go into the fetal position in pain.

Duncan then breaks the wooden bat over his knee and throws the pieces away and then points to the other twin looking incredibly pissed off. Duncan then walks to the seemingly unafraid twin, and just before the twin can hit him with the folding chair, Duncan hits him first, knocking the guy back a few feet. The twin recovers and tries to charge at Duncan, but Duncan close lines him and knocks him down onto the ground. Before the twin can get up, Duncan gets down on his knees close to the twin and punches him square on the eye, making his head hit the floor knocking him out.

Duncan, while smirking, looks up at the announcer. The announcer, visibly pissed, begrudgingly takes his mic and says, **"AND DOWN GOES TWIN CITIES! START THE COUNT! 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. AND THE WNNER, AND STILL UNDEFEATED! THE GREEN HOOOOOOOODDDDD!"**

Duncan then gets up and raises his arms in the air, making the crowd cheer, all the while Duncan looks angrily at the announcer not even blinking. Duncan then leaves the stage and makes for the exit.

I then look at Bridgette, Gwen, and Harold, who look almost as shocked as I am. Bridgette then asks, "Do you think he is okay?"

"I don't know. But what I do know is that we are going to help him, and we are gonna bring down this whole God forsaken place. Whether Duncan knows it, or wants it or not, that's a promise."

_Ok that's the end of chapter 12 hoped you like it. Please review and tell me what you think of it. And if you think I made courtney a little over the top well have you ever noticed that she is a drama queen? On the show she loved making scenes like that so actually I stayed in character so suck it. And yeah this was mostly a filler but next one is gonna be plot driven not action driven so don't worry._

_"It is the cause and not the death that makes the martyr" _

_Napoleon Bonaparte quotes_


	13. Broken Glass

_Hey everybody I know I said in my last chapter that this one will be plot driven and while that is true duncan and courtney will have hardly any time together and will be mostly team centric. Though I must warn you, you will find what gonna go on in this chapt a 'bit' shocking. Also I found out after rereading just my way of repaying you from Because Love is WAY Over-rated that since it was one of the first stories I have ever read on fanfiction that I subconsciously based my writing style on hers. In that one chapter is courtney the next is duncan and so on. Right now I'm trying to break that by making this a courtney and team centric even though the last chapt was also courtney centric. Tell me what you think. Please read and review and above all else enjoy._

_I own nothing. _

**DESPERATION**

**Chapter 13- Broken Glass**

"I don't know. But what I do know is that we are going to help him, and we are gonna bring down this whole God forsaken place. Whether Duncan knows it, or wants it or not, that's a promise." I said now looking at the ring.

"wow great movie quote but do you really want to jinx it again? Remember what happened last time?" Harold said in his annoying Sheldon wannabe way.

"shut up Harold!" I shouted at Harold making him walk back a few feet in fear I could get used to that.

Gwen and Bridget both chuckle at watching me make Harold almost wet his pants in fear. But then after the laughing died down Bridget asked. "ok so what do you wanna do now courtney?"

But before I could say anything Harold interrupted saying. "Well I think we should go back to our dorms."

"I didn't ask you I asked courtney." Bridget said glaring at Harold.

"well obviously we are going to find duncan and see if he is ok."

"yeah sorry but we can't do that." Harold said not at all looking sorry.

"oh and why not?" I asked with my hands on my hips.

"because his cell phones off so I can't track him and by the looks of it he's gone." Harold informed while holding his PDA.

"what? There's got to be something else you can do."

"well we could stay and watch the rest of the fights. There are a few more going on tonight. In fact I think the champ is coming up next." Harold said pointing at the ring who had new contestants coming out.

Hearing him I am curious as to who the actual champion is and I look up at the arena. But when I do I only see a small number of equally scary and stupid looking people. Having lost interest I turn back to Harold and say. "Uhhh! No we're not staying. I guess we just go back to the dorms. But tomorrow before class Harold meet us at our dorms ok."

"Alright gosh!"

"Whatever let's just go."

We then try to push through the many 'sports' fans in the room to get to the exit. At the end of the crowd I notice that a few of the guys from the one's outside have gotten in and as soon as they saw me they immediately backed off and let me walk through. Ha! Damn straight.

"hey courtney is there a reason why these guys just let us walk out without us having to push through'em?"

"oh well um, you guy's remember when I said I knee'd some guy? Well when I did the others in the crowd thought I'd do the same to them and opened up a path for me to the front. I guess they're still afraid of me." I said with the biggest smirk on my face.

"ha! Nice." Bridget said fallowing my out the exit. Gwen and Harold were right behind her. But before we actually do leave I hear one of the fighters being knocked against the chain link octagon and then I hear someone say. "SHABAM!"

I turn around and see one of the fighters, who looks like mightas, on the ground trying to get back up. The guy standing next to him is an African Canadian guy, and is wearing a horrible navy blue jersey with a gold lightning bolt on it. The lightning bolt guy is giving a little victory dance in the ring, even though he didn't even win yet.

Though I can't tell, but after seeing this I think mightas got angry because he then charged at and tackled the lightning bolt guy and knocked him on the ground and started pounding on him.

When Mightas did that the crowd cheered more than when lightning was doing the stupid victory dance. I guess the crowd hated it almost as much as I did. I then shake my head and walk out the exit like the others did before.

When I get outside Isee that the parking lot is practically abandoned. The small crowd of people that were at the front of the building when I got here is now gone, even the bouncers are gone. Must be inside working security.

"NOOOOOOHOOO!" Harold screams like the whiny bitch he is.

I turn and walk over to where he and my friends are. When I get there I see Gwen and Bridget trying very hard to not laugh while Harold is on his knees hugging his van. "Whats he crying about?"

As soon as I say that Gwen and Bridget burst out laughing. Still laughing Gwen says. "Someone, phtff, someone, phtff."

"Someone tagged his van! Ha Ha Haaaa" Bridget finished.

I then look at the van and see that on the side of it, the part with the ugly star wars stuff has been spray painted diagonally over in red with the word. "DORK". Seeing his I burst out laughing too. It was awesome! The ugly big foot one has the D on his face and the girl with fugly hair has the O over her chest, the cute blonde has the R on his crotch, and the space cowboy looking one has the other K on his knee's. it's amazing oh man I wish I thought of that.

With tears going down his face Harold yells at us saying. "How dare you laugh at this! Someone has besmirched the sci fi gods! Han solo I will avenge you!"

What he said only made us laugh more it is so funny it was actually starting to hurt I then look at my friends and see that Gwen is on the ground holding her sides while Bridget is laughing so hard she's crying.

After a few minutes and we have our laugh I say. "wow I needed that. Ok see you guy's later."

Gwen then moves Harold out of the way and Bridget opens the door and goes in. Gwen then says to the still whining Harold. "come on you big baby time to go."

Harold still does nothing so Gwen than says. "hurry up or I'm driving."

Harold immediately gets up and says. "No way is some chick driving my van! My baby's suffered enough! I'm driving."

Both Gwen and Bridget are annoyed by this, sexist dork, but none the less they are glad that he sucked it up. I then see the van start up and leave the parking lot. I then walk back to my car but before I open my car door I take out my phone and try to call duncan but all I get is voice mail. Damn it! "hey its duncan leave a message."

"hey duncan its courtney please call me back. I wanna know if you're ok. I'm really worried."

I then hang up. Should I? I know I just asked him to but maybe now he can. Why not. I then call his number.

He picks up and says. "hello? Who is this?"

"its me courtney."

"uh hi. What do you want?"

I sigh and say. "listen I want you to try and track duncan again. I'm worried he might have broken bones or internal bleeding or…"

"let me stop you right there. For one, I don't have any bugs on him. And 2. It's not exactly the smart thing to try and remotely track someone when I'm driving."

"but-."

"sorry courtney there is nothing we or you can do right now you're just going to have to wai-" I hang up on Harold before he can complete his statement on how useless he is at the moment.

"Uhhh! I hate that nerd!" after my outburst I take a few seconds to try and calm down. Its ok duncan's fine, he's fine. So what if he almost got beaten to death. I'm sure he'll pull through it. Wow that doesn't sound even a little bit reassuring.

"dammit duncan don't you die on me." I say opening the door to my car. But it is then slammed closed on me. I then look at the arm that closed and followed to its owner.

"oh I'm sure he's fine." He said. It's the same guy that I knee'd. crap this night just went from really bad to fuck me.

"w-what the hell do you want?" I stammered while looking at him looking angry. But after stammering, yeah that probably didn't help.

"what you did to me to me earlier, wasn't very nice."

"yeah well what you did wasn't very nice either so piss off!" I said to him before I tried to open my car again. But he immediately shut it again.

"feisty, I like that." He said getting closer to me.

"hey back off!" I then try to push him away but he just grabs one of my arms and pulls me closer.

"don't bother screaming girl, no one will hear you." He said with the creepiest smile on his face.

I look around and he's right there is no one in the parking lot because the fights are still on and by now everyone already in watching. He then turns me around and pushes me against my car so that my back is facing him and he then says. "don't worry this will only hurt a lot."

While I can't see him I can hear him unbuckling his belt with his free hand. Oh god he's gonna try and rape me! And no one can help me. Dammit duncan where are you. Wait I don't need duncan! This in not like last night. There are not three armed guys this is just one and I am NOT I repeat NOT A FUCKING DAMSEL IN DISTRESS I can take care of myself!

I then kick him where I think the sound of his belt is coming from. He lets go of me, backs up a few feet and then says. "AHHHH! You bitch I'm gonna kill you!"

I turn around and see him holding his balls and looking super pissed. He then charges at me. I then without thinking pull out Gwen's tazer and shock him in the chest with it. He immediately tenses up and then falls over onto the ground. He flinches a bit on the ground but otherwise unable to move he says to me. "Bitch."

I then take out my phone and take a picture of him. I am so gonna call the cops on him later just not now and not in this neighborhood. Before I get in my car I kick him right in the ribs. I then leave as fast as I can.

XXX

The next morning I'm in my dorm along with Gwen and Bridget. Its around 8:00 AM but I'm still super tired because I didn't sleep again. Whenever I tired I had nightmares about Duncan dyeing or him being beaten to death. Oh and did I mention me getting raped! Well I had nightmares about that too probably just as much about bad stuff happening to duncan.

Right now I'm stirring up some hot chocolate mix. Seeing this gwen asks. "still shook up from two nights ago?"

NO! its from almost getting raped LAST night! But if I told them that they would just worry and blitze me with questions. I've been through enough I don't want to deal with that right now. I just nod.

We then hear someone knocking at the door. Bridget then gets up from where she was sitting and goes over to the door and opens it. When she does well regret that she did. . "12.6 seconds bout time you opened the door."

"hey Harold." Bridget said. She then walks back into the kitchen but then.

"you gonna invite me it?"

Annoyed beyond belief she says. "PLEASE Harold, come in."

Harold then walks in and after he walked past her he says "thank you I will."

Then Bridget then says. "I hate that we need you."

"well get used to it. Because I'm here to stay" Bridget then slams the door and walks back to the living room.

Harold then sits down on the couch and takes out his laptop I then say "make yourself at home."

"you already made that joke. Anyway can we get started I've gotta be in class in an hour, so whats the plan?" Harold said in his usual hard not to hit him way.

I then take out my hot chocolate from the microwave and then walk over to coffee table in the living room where everyone else is. Is sit on the couch across from Harold and ask. "Well what did you find?"

Gwen opens up saying. "Like I was saying last night before we were interrupted; you will not believe what the dean is doing. You know Owen or 'big 0' well it turns out that he is actually in the fights because he is using the winnings from the fights to pay for his diabetes treatments."

"what?" I said confused

"yeah big 0 has diabetes and his day job isn't enough to pay his bills and his insolent so he participates in the fights."

"…I don't even know how to respond to that."

"yeah well that's not all. After we got that golden piece of info from him we asked about the other fighters."

"wait how'd you get him to talk?" I asked before blowing on my still burning hot chocolate.

"well at first we offered him a piece of cake, as a joke, but he took offence to that and he demanded to know who we were. And have you seen him? Its hard to say no to that guy." Harold said doing more seemingly random typing.

"what'd you tell him?"

"that we were journalists for the Vancouver U newspaper and we wanted to do an article of the fighters of the Vancouver fight club."

"and he believed you?" I asked very skeptical.

"well in his defense I think duncan hit him a bit too hard on the head." Said Gwen

"and I actually am trying to be a journalist so it wasn't hard to convince him we were." Said Bridget

"wait you're a here for that!?" Harold snorted in his usual condescending way.

"yeah what about it?" Bridget said looking very peeved.

"well it's a kinda dried up field considering that most people get their info from the internet. Who knows how long newspapers are even gonna be around." Harold said very arrogantly.

Bridget continued to glare at Harold until I said. "um guys can we focus here? What did you find about the other fighters?"

Harold said nothing while Both Bridget and Gwen said. "Sorry."

"ok what we found was that from Owen is that aside for a few exceptions, only duncan is in the fight club and go to the university. But the rest are just regular Joes who either don't make enough money from their day jobs or don't have a day job at all. And that's why they are in the fight club."

"that's just… wow. When Duncan said that the club was their only source of income I was really hoping he was exaggerating."

"nope he wasn't." Harold said emotionlessly.

"Wait you said there were 'exceptions' does that mean that there are other students at the university who are contestants? " I asked just before taking a swig of my hot chocolate.

"yeah but only a few; like the Jamaican. Apparently him and big 0 are friends because Owen said that the Jamaican is using his winnings to put himself through collage."

"Jesus." Was all I could say in response.

"yeah and here's the kicker. Big o informed us that the current champion 'lightning', you know the guy with the navy blue jersey and lightning bolt, is actually hated by most of the other contestants." Gwen informed.

"why is that?" I ask.

"well big O says that he is a douchebag, and a glory hound. You know in the ring last night when he punched mightas on to the ground and did the little victory dance? Well apparently he does that in almost all of the fights he is in and the other fighters hate it." Harold said while doing, yep you guessed it; more random typing.

"and Big 0 said that he's not that bright either." Bridgette said.

"okay I'm a little afraid to ask but is there any more you guys found out?" I said drinking another bit of my hot chocolate.

"well yes actually and yeah your probably not going to like it." gwen said looking sad.

"Big 0 said that he actually feels sorry for the 'green hood'." Informed Bridgette.

"why's that?"

"he said that the dean is actually looking for a reason to cut duncan from his fight club and that he hates him. Owen didn't tell us why though, and that him and the other fighters actually like duncan… or at least don't' hate him as much as lighting."

"ok how could he know all of that? That ty guy said he was a new guy."

Harold then answers. "Don't know because he said he had to go right after that, probably for the fights."

Gwen then continues. "the rest you know."

Ok wow I can't even process half of what they gave me. Before I can even get a base line grip on this Harold opens his stupid nerd cake hole and asks. "hey hello? Fearless leader, whats the plan?"

I glare at him but before I get a word in I feel my phone vibrate in my pocket. I immediately pull it out and inform. "hey I got a text from duncan."

"what does it say?"

"Courtney got checked out by doc says fine." I tell them after reading the text.

"well that's good." Said Bridget

"yeah but I'm still gonna go see him. You guys go to class. And no you can't go with me because if you do he'll just get all defensive and, I think he' gone through enough."

Gwen then asks. "Courtney are you sure?"

"Yeah I'm sure but Harold see if you can track him now."

"well now that I know that his phone is on it should be easy. Let the master work his magic." Harold said typing more on his computer.

After about 30 seconds he stops and while looking very surprised he says. "ok that is surprising. Instead of the hospital he is in the medical wing of the university"

"what! Why is he there instead of a hospital?" I ask out loud.

Gwen answers. "Sometimes doctors from the hospital come and give lesions to the students here."

Harold asks. "how could you possibly know that? What are you trying to be a doctor?"

Gwen smiles and says. "nurse actually."

Harold condescendingly says. "A nurse."

Gwen just glares at him and says. " I'm going to going to medical school here. I even know some of the doctors at Vancouver general that teach there. They are some of the best teachers in Canada and my class is taught by the best doctor there is; dr. cox. He's a little bit of a jackass but he's an amazing doctor and teacher."

"so you think that this 'dr. cox' is treating duncan at the med school?" I ask.

"well it is his day to show up so its likely."

"that's good. Now I know who to ask for when I look for duncan there." I said taking one last sip of my drink while heading for the door.

"wow hold on I'm going too." Said Gwen also getting up from her seat.

I turn around to argue with her but before I can she says. "I know the place and the doctors/teachers."

Seeing her logic I sigh and say. "alright lets go. We'll take my car."

XXX

We then leave for the med school on campus while Bridget and Harold go to their respective classes. Shortly after we're on the short drive there Gwen asks me something I wish she hadn't. " hey courtney don't you have classes today"

I sigh and say. "being an intern is part of the curriculum and I have to go back to work in like half an hour."

"wow your cutting it a little close aren't you?"

"Making sure duncan is ok is more important."

"Going to work that will help you in your career is important too Courtney."

I sigh and say. "you just don't understand. Duncan saved my life I owe him."

Gwen just sighs not trying to argue more with me. But she does say. "look since I'm gonna be here for class anyway, how about I look after him while you go to work?"

I try to argue saying. "but, but-"

"no buts courtney! This is how it's going!"

I sigh for the millionth time today. I still feel like I should stay and look after Duncan but I still have to go to work. God I'm glad she knows how to negotiate with me. "Thanks Gwen."

She smiles and says. "no problem."

I then see the med school's parking lot and turn into it and park my car. We both then get out of the car but I drop my tazer that Gwen gave me. Gwen picks it up and says. "here courtney you dro…" she stops and looks at it for a second.

A little weirded out by this I just grab it and say. "thanks Gwen."

She then gives me some weird look and says. "No problem"

Deciding not to ask or push whats got her I just start walking to the entrance and she fallows me. Shortly after we get in I ask her "hey Gwen where do you think duncan is?"

Gwen just shrugs and says. "I have no idea I'm a med student not a psychic."

"fair enough but have any ideas?"

"well we could ask Harold for help."

"no he's in class right now and we don't wanna get him in trouble. He is our tech guy."

"well send him a text."

"good idea." I then do as she suggested and send him a text asking for help in finding Duncan's location. I almost immediately get a text from Harold. "209. Hey you know where that is?" I ask gwen.

"yeah but its my class. Whats he doing there?" she then looks at me visibly freaked out. Join the club gwen. She then starts walking down the hall I fallow her.

A few minutes later we make it to the room '209' gwen says. "well here we go"

She then opens the door to find something unexpected. The doctor in the room says. . "ok class we got a real treat for you today." He then directs to Duncan who has massive bruising on his face and is holding his sides "I will pick one of you to patch up our new patient."

_Hello everyone hope you liked it. Now I know the beginning middle was a bit twisted but I thought it was needed and it will play a large part in the future. Now other than that if this chapter is a little underwhelming don't worry the next chapter will not. I guarantee it. Oh and I thought that this story needed a special guest star so why not go with one of the best characters of one of my favorite shows. I hope I do him right._

"_Good morning, reasons why I drink", you may have noticed that we have a new face in our group."_

_Famous scrubs character who probably carried the show._


	14. speed bumps

_Hey everybody sorry to hear about fanfiction's new policy of the whole M rating thing I am a fan of those, but to somehow compensate it in some small way here is another chapter. Now this chapter and then next one will be in duncan's pov and yes it will be an unofficial crossover with scrubs I love that show. But don't worry it will only be for this and next chapter and they will be bit characters at best. Please read and enjoy._

_This chapter has been rewritten, I own nothing._

**DESPERATION**

**Chapter 14- speed bumps**

**"AND DOWN GOES TWIN CITIES! START THE COUNT! 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. AND THE WNNER, AND STILL GRAND CHAMPION! THE GREEN HOOOOOOOODDDDD!" **hat shit screamed into his microphone.

I then get up and raises my arms in the air, making the crowd cheer. I look straight at hatchet and see that he is almost as pissed off as I am. He must have bet that I would have lost, happy to disappoint him. I then walk out of the ring and into the ludus.

When I get to the ludus I look around and I can see the fighters that have fought either sitting or laying near their own locker being tended to by the other constants who have yet to fight. I walk over to my locker and try to walk around the other fighters while I do. When I get to my locker I open it up but before I can pull anything out of it I am met by another contestant, well a friend really.

"hey you need any help? We got some more gauze and ointment." Asked Jamaican spice holding up some gauze in one hand and tube of pain relieve ointment in another."

I pull out my hoodie, close my locker door, and say while shaking my throbbing head. "no thanks man I'm fine."

Jamaican spice just stared at me and said. "no you're not man I've seen this before, hell we've all lived through this before. As soon as the adrenalin wears off you'll feel the pain and you'll crash, you'll crash hard. So let me help you."

"Yeah I'll feel it and soon but I don't have time, I got business to take care of." I say to him while walking past him to the exit. But he grabs my shoulder turns me back to him and says.

"what kind of business? Come on D you know this ain't smart."

I turn and say to him angrily. "I don't care. We kill ourselves for him, them, their entertainment, and he still treats us like fucking toys. I almost died tonight!"

Jamaican spice puts down his arms and says to me reluctantly. "Yeah you did but there is nothing you can do D, you'll just make it worse."

"Worse? If he did that to me whats to stop him from doing this again to someone else? What about you DJ? You can't even afford to move out of your parent's place, whats to stop him from doing the same thing to you? How do you think your mom would react to finding out that her son died trying to put himself through collage? All because of some sadist?" Jamaican spice looks like at me with a face of horror imagining the thought I gave him.

I then continue. "Or what about Atom? He's a dad trying to put his kid through middle school. Whats to stop the dean from doing this to him? Or what about engine block? The guy got laid off and lives in his car. He uses every sent he makes here to pay that retirement home to make sure his parents are taken care of. What do you think will happen to them if engine block died in the ring like I almost did?

No I am not putting up with this! Not anymore. It is time he learns his lessen and knows he cannot treat us like his fucking play things." I say to him. DJ is visibly angry from rant because he knows I'm right.

He then says to me sternly. "Get some help when you're done."

I simply not, put up my hood and walk out into the crowd. And I head straight for the high class box seats; it's the renovate office in this place with the curtained off stair way and the black two-way windows. Yeah the dean spared no expense with the big shots he's trying to entertain. its where the big spenders go to watch their bets and while the dean doesn't usually watch the fights himself he will probably make an exception if the mayor is involved.

When I get to the stair way to the box seats I am stopped by the two security guys. They are bald, around 6 feet, bulky, and scared shitless by me. I then demand. "let me through I need to see the boss."

The one on right says while shaking with fear. "sorry man but the boss said not to let anyone though."

"not even me?" I said really pissed off.

"s- sorry man. That our orders." The left stutters.

" if you don't let me though I will drop you." I said completely serious. And after seeing me take down those twins they believe it too because you can tell their even more scared.

Before either of them can do anything chef comes over and asks. "hey whats going on here?"

" GH wants to see the boss."

Chef then looks at me and says. " no way are you gonna see the boss tonight pretty boy."

"why not?"

"the boss is in there with the mayor trying to get us a good deal and you should just go home before the fights five minute intermission is over." He then cracks his knuckles and says. "before I put the beat down on-"

Before he completes his threat I punch him as hard as I can right in his face. He falls on his back completely knocked out. I then rub my hand that I used to punch chef and say to the bouncers. "let me through."

The two security guards look like they just saw Jason voorhees himself just cleave a guy in half. I stare at them for a second waiting for them to let me through but they seem to actually be paralyzed in fear. "Now."

They immediately do as I say and even open the curtain for me. I walk up the stair way and open the door. When I get in and see a few upper-class dicks in suits just talking. I then spot the dean talking to some bald guy with a really bad com over. I walk over to them and when I do the suit jackasses stair at me but I could care less. When I get there I can hear that dean's in one of the rare occasions that he's not talking about himself. Damn this must be important if he's doing that and if I weren't so pissed off I would care. "Dean."

The dean turns around a little angry that he was interrupted from his conversation but as soon as he see's me his anger is replaced by surprise. He then turns back around to the bald guy and says. "I'm sorry will you excuse me for a moment."

"oh not a proble-" the dean turns back to me before the guy can complete his sentence.

The dean says with a fake smile. "come with me."

He then starts walking to the other side of the box where there are less people there. Though I don't think it matters since I'll stick out anyway. When we get there he says visibly pissed off. "you got a lot of balls coming in here."

Even more pissed off I say to hm. " you're the one with the balls! Giving those psycos the bat and a folding chair! If it was anyone else they would have died."

"but it wasn't anyone else, It was you duncan. And you won no less. Knew you could do it."

"doen'st matter you dick, I could have died tonight."

"Well I though you liked life or death situations duncan, since you were in one last night. And besides you might have single handedly made a very rich man."

"I don't care."

"well you should care, because thanks to you tonight I should be able to open up fight clubs in other parts of town maybe in other cities than just Vancouver. You just opened up the rest of Canada for me." The dean said with the biggest arrogant smirk I have ever seen. Keep smiling dick because I don't know how but I am going to ruin this night for you.

"well whoopee for you McLain. But you crossed a line tonight and its gonna cost you."

The dean chuckles at this and says. "that's a great movie quote but come on, what can you do?"

Before either of us can say anything the mayor comes over to us and says. "gentlemen."

The dean for the first time I have ever seen actually sucks up to someone and says. "mayor. How'd you like the show?"

"Dean, impressive establishment you have here. And the show, pretty good."

"thank you mayor. Hope you'll stay for the next round it's the champion himself; my boy lighting."

"I think I just might." The mayor then looks at me and asks. "and who is this fine young man?"

I say nothing but the dean points to me and says. "this is one of my top fighters, Gree…"

the mayor annoyed says to the dean. "I know who he is I just saw him fight." The mayor then raises his hand to me and says. "mayor network. Nice to meet you."

I don't respond at first I think this is a good way to get back at the dean, embarrass him in front of the mayor. But come on, that's too petty even for him so I say while holding up my arm. "sorry I seemed to hurt my hand."

The mayor chuckles at this and says. "that's not the only thing you hurt. You should probably go and see a doctor son."

"its ok I've been through worse." Both the dean and the mayor laugh at this like it was the funniest thing on earth. Guys like them wouldn't even last a day in prison I would know I've seen it.

After their little laugh the mayor turns to the dean and says. "dean I've considered your proposal and after seeing the fight I have decided that I will back you in opening up more fight clubs in the city."

The dean all too eagerly says. "thank you mayor network you will not regret it."

They then try to shake on it but before they can I say. "that's a bad move."

The mayor immediately stops and asks more like he's humoring me than actually taking me seriously. "really and what makes you say that?"

The dean fallows and while sounding calm you can hear the subtle anger. "yeah what makes you say that?"

"remember a few days ago when those two gang bangers where beaten up on camera? Its been all over the news."

"yes I remember that but I fail to see how that's relevant."

"its relevant because the cops have put out a warrant for guy who beat them up, and while they don't know what he looks like they do know that he happens to have green hair."

The mayor now completely focused on me asks. "was that you?"

"does it matter? Right now the police are looking for someone with green hair and are expecting him to be beat up and have been looking for him at all the clinics and hospitals in the city for him. And after their round is over usually the fighters go to those said hospitals and clinics. Right now those numbers are low enough that the cops won't think there related but if we expand now they will and eventually they will find out about the fight club, and who runs them." I said looking at the dean.

The mayor is a little put off by this but says with a confidant smile. "the police, I got a pretty good handle on, they shouldn't be that big of a problem."

"do you really want to take that chance?" as soon as I say that his smile disappears.

"and besides and even if the police weren't after him the public is."

"what do you mean by that?"

"ever since that cam footage went out, facebook and twitter have lit up over it and the second they find anything those idiots will post it and soon after the police will be forced to be involved and arrest anyone involved in the fight club. That includes you two. If you're caught you'll be arrested for extortion, illegal gambling, association for letting it happen, oh and reckless endangerment."

"ok than, what do you suggest?" asked the mayor intrigued.

" we should keep the fight club here a and shift around the fighters and bring new blood into it. Doing so will not only make the idiots that gamble here more but also make the idiots on the internet loose interest. We shouldn't expand until much later."

The dean a little too fast asks. "how much later?"

"til a few months until the mayors next election so you will have an extra source of money and in the event you need a PR stunt you could always expand or relocate and have the authorities under the you ransack it and you could take the credit. And if that happens the you should win hands down." I said talking to the mayor.

The mayor confidently says. "I've been mayor for over 12 years, what do I have to worry about?"

"it never hurts to have insurance."

The mayor is silent for a few seconds, he does not move he does not even breath. He's obviously deep in thought and that's pretty hard for a politician. He then turns to the dean and says. "where did you find this guy McLain? Not only is he the toughest man I have ever met but he has an amazing head for business. I like that?"

The mayor then turns to the dean and says. "sorry McLain I'm gonna have to go with the kid on this one."

The dean in a pathetic attempt to save his deal said. "please reconsider mayor network If we expand now we will make substantial amounts of money."

I say. "it's a bad idea to listen to someone who put on the biggest show the fight club has seen in years when both the cops and the public could turn it into a media circus."

The dean then angrily looks at me but before he can say or do anything the mayor says. "kids right, you should really listen to him more." the mayor then looks at me and asks "now you gonna tell me your name so I can tell my business partners who to go to when they want to make a smart deal here?"

"we'll just stick with green hood, it seems to work." I said with a smirk.

Just by looking at him you can tell that the mayor knows I just want to stay anonymous, but he thinks its funny and smirks himself. He then says to the dean. "You really should listen to him. Kids smart."

The dean says nothing but you can tell that he's pissed. The mayor then says. "well I better go and tell my associates what the plan for the fight club is."

The dean says nothing but is obviously trying to hold in his anger. The mayor then leaves and as soon as he is out of ear shot the dean grabs me by my arm as hard as he can and demands. "have you lost your mind?"

I jerk my hand away and say. " Have you?! Everything I said was right. You endangered the entire operation, and almost killed me just to make a few quick bucks."

The dean is visibly upset but does not say anything. Ha must not be able to think of anything that helps his point. Fucking idiot. After a few seconds of silence the dean just leaves without saying a word. "told you I'd get you back."

I then leave the viewing box and the wear-house and on the way down I notice that even more idiots have shown up to watch me fight. I even hear some of the new guys ask for me and when I fight only to be told that I've already had my round, jackass's. they are even more disappointed to find out that they have to watch the champ lightning. The crowd hate him almost as much as the other fighters do. Can't say I blame him. Look at him now for god sakes. I think as I look at the arena and see mightas passed out on the ground and lightning doing another one of his stupid victory dances while saying his god awful catchphrase; shabam!

I stare back hard at the arena and I remember what he did to me back at my dorms before. And when I see him doing 'this' in the arena over mightas like he does with everyone else he fights, makes me wish I was in there with him, nothing would make me happier right now than seeing his gray matter than smashed out of his head and on to the floor by my own hands just like I did to the ca-.

"No." I say to myself as I turn to the exit and walk out the door. That's not me, not now, not ever again.

When I get out of the building and out to the parking lot I start to feel more and more pain in my torso and face. Dammit my adrenalin must be wearing off. Shit I was hoping that it would at least last long enough so that I could get back to doctor or something. Shit.

I get to my car and then sit in the driver's seat and open my wallet and take out a business card." I'm officially out of options."

I call the number on the card and after a few rings he answers. "hello? Who is this?"

"hey its me that guy who got a heart attack from an electrical outlet."

"do you have any idea what time it is?"

"sorry but I sorta need another emergency checkup. Where are you?"

"I'm still at the hospital. Just come on down here and I'll do it."

"yeah sorry doc I might pass out before I can get there and due to my employment I am unable to go there because of the police."

The doctor is silent for a minute but then says. " I'll tell you what go to the med school of the Vancouver university I teach there… actually later today. So I have access and it has almost as good equipment as the hospital. Is that alright?"

"yeah that'll work I'll meet you there soon ok." I then hang up the phone and drive off to the med school on campus though its gonna be a bitch just staying conscious.

XXX

A few minutes later I just barely make it to the med school's parking lot and I 'fantastic' job parking by the way. Before I get out of my car I grab my jacket and my hat to hide my identity. I then shut off my car and get out of it, and I call the doc again. "hey doc I'm here, where are you?"

"I'm in room 210."

"I'll try to get over there but I'm having trouble staying awake."

"just try man I'm setting up the equipment to get you tested out."

"just set up the MRI and the X ray. It's mostly beating related injuries." I said holding my right side that took that punch from the brass knuckles.

"alright I'll do but get your ass over here."

While walking to the room I start feeling something I done many a time. I'm about to pass out great. What the hell am I gonna tell courtney? Oh shit courtney I forgot she saw me fight tonight, dammit. She probably thinks I'm dead right now. What am I gonna do I can't call her I'm about to drop unconscious on the ground right now. Harold! I'm sure she's got that prick looking for me like before. And he'll find me again.

I then turn on my phones GPS. I turn it off every time I do a job so that the cops or anyone else can't track me. I've been doing it for years, good habit I guess. I then notice that I have over a dozen messages from courtney and her friends. I really can't deal with her right now so I put my phone back into my pocket.

I finally make it to the room and open it. I see the doc messing with the MRI machine. He looks at me and says. "you look like crap. "

"I know. We should probably get this done soon I'm about to pass out." I said as everything started to get blurry.

"alright just lay down on the platform here and I'll take an MRI."I do as he says but as soon as I land on the platform I just black out, though I was conscious long enough to hear the doc say. "crap."

XXX

I wake up in a hospital bed surprisingly in no pain at all. I then look around the room and see the doc sleeping on his desk. I then try to wake him up by saying. "hey doc, hey doc wake up?"

Nothing, damn, I need to know if I'm ok or not. I then try to get up and immediately I'm in excruciating pain. FUCK. I get up out of the bed and walk over to the sleeping docter and each step is a BITCH. Dammit I am so gonna ask him for some pain killers.

When I get over to the desk I see the docs plaque "dr. cox" ha. I forgot the docs got a funny name. I then shake the good dr. cox. After a few seconds of this he wakes up. He looks at me for a second and asks. "what time is it?"

I look at the clock in the room and answer. "its about 7:55."

"its almost time for my class to start."

"what time does that start?"

"around 9:00"

"ok. Hey how am I doing? every time I more I'm in a lot of pain." I said holding my right side again.

"And you should be in pain. Because while you don't have any broken bones you have a few cracked ribs and intense bruising on your torso and face. Oh and a sprained hand." Damn must have sprained my hand punching chef.

"you'll be fine as long as you don't do anything strenuous."

"I'll try." I joke.

I laugh a little bit at my joke but the doc does not. He then asks something I wish he hadn't. "Hey whats with the hair?"

I then feel the top of my head and notice that my hat is gone. Shit. I then say. "oh crap where's my hat."

Dr. cox then points back to the bed I was just at. I look over and see that my hat is on a table next to the same bed. He then says while I walk back over to it. "it fell off your head when you passed out on the MRI platform."

I get to the bed and put my hat back on and then I say to him. "yeah sorry about that I had a bad night."

"I could see that. Hey were you the one who saved that girl on the news from those gang bangers?"

I sigh. What the hell he already knows I'm hiding from the cops might as well tell him. "yeah but please keep it quiet."

"why?" man this guy loves to ask questions I wish he didn't.

"because I really don't want to draw attention to myself."

"fair enough. But was the fight with the muggers how you got injured this time?"

"no and sorry but I can't elaborate. I can just tell you that it's for my job that I'm stuck in."

"fair enough but you should know something. You did a good thing stopping those two. I've had some of their victims as my patience and they did horrible things to those poor girls."

"how they taken the news of what happened to those guys?" I said sincerely wanting to know.

"they each want to thank you personally for finally giving those bastards what they deserved."

"As good as it sound to be thanked by hot girls I still think it's better to lay low."

"ok but you are going to pay me back though."

"what?" I said very surprised.

"well yeah, hero or no you still owe me for coming to the med school of the collage, staying overnight and dragging your sorry unconscious ass around and testing you all night. You really think that you'd get off scott free?"

I sigh again and say. "fine what do I have to do?"

"I need a living patient for my students to work on. Don't worry it won't be anything serious just diagnosing."

"ok but on one condition. I stay completely anonymous and my hat stays on." I said pointing at my hat.

"that's fine and if you ever, EVER make me do this again expect the same thing ok."

"yeah got it."

"good. You better make yourself comfy because for the next couple of hours you're gonna be my classes testing dummy." He said while getting out a bunch of charts from his desk. I do as he says and walk back over to the hospital bed and lay down again. I sit there for a few minutes and find that I am unable to sleep. Shit well there goes my plan to piss away those hours.

Getting bored I take out my phone to play some of the games on it but as soon as I open it up I notice that I got even more messages from courtney and her group. Dammit I so don't wanna deal with this right now. So I send her a text telling her I got checked out by a doctor and that I'm fine. I know that she's probably just gonna send me more messages asking me where I am and to elaborate what the doc said but I'm just too tired and hurt right now to put up with that so I put the phone back in my pocket. Sorry court just have nerd boy find me I'm sure he can.

I then sit back in the bed again and try to get whatever sleep I can.

XXX

Around a half hour later people from cox's class start showing up until a good 12-15 people are here. They all gather around me looking either curious or worried about what happened to me but never ask me directly thank god. Dr. cox then comes over and says. "ok class we got a real treat for you to day."

He then points to me says. ""I will pick one of you to patch up our new patient."

As soon as he says that I hear someone gasp behind the crowd of med students to see both Gwen and courtney look at me like they are about to either strangle me or pass out from sheer surprise.

_Well that's it for this chapt hope you liked it and yes the mayor network is obviously based on the fictional network of the show is on. Haven't you noticed that every time the network was involved that Chris bent over backwards to try and please them so I thought who better than to take the spot as the mayor. And yes this is the same dr. cox from the tv show scrubs and no this is not an official crossover its just a guest appearance and he will play a bit part in the next chapt and will probably not show up again, and other characters might show up as well but only cameos. But if you want a specific character to show up just leave a review and ask for them._

"and the patient over here is suffering from a case of dr. cox's bitchidas."

Five bucks to who can ever tell me what episode that was from.


	15. NEW FRIENDS AND PEACE

_Hello everybody I know its been longer than when I usually update but I just moved and things have only now just settled down enough so that I can write, so here it is. Also I've been told that I give just enough DxC to keep people interested well that said in this one there will be loads but only at the end second half. And believe me when I tell you it will make you do one of the fallowing's- make you laugh, cry, or go into fits of rage and destroy things while you curse to whatever god you believe in… or me. So enjoy. Oh and I hope you enjoy my attempt at writing one of dr. cox's rants it was fun writing it. And if any of the words are miss spelled its on purpose because he has a weird accent and misspelling words is just the best way to put that in there._

_Oh and I gave Gwen a last name. Since Gwen is a Celtic name I thought I'd go with an Irish name. Hope you like it._

_This has been rewritten, I own nothing enjoy._

**DESPERATION**

**CH 15- NEW FRIENDS AND PEACE**

"I will pick one of you to patch up our new patient. "As soon as he says that I hear someone gasp behind the crowd of med students to see both Gwen and Courtney look at me like they are about to either strangle me or pass out from sheer surprise. Seeing them see me I have only one thought: 'Oh shit this will not end well for me.'

But before anyone can say anything, Dr. Cox turns and sees them. "Miss O'Conner, glad to see that you made it and… ohh and 5 minutes late too. Fantastic." He then looks at Courtney and says. "Oh and you brought a friend, ecstatic."

I then see Gwen turn to Courtney, who is still looking hard at me. I can't hear what Gwen says to Courtney but courtney nods but still does nothing.

Getting impatient, Dr. Cox says. "Hey O'Conner, hurry up! And while you're at it, go scrub up!" He then turns to the rest of the class and says. "That goes for the rest of you too!"

Almost immediately the other med students make for the door and when they do I think Gwen and courtney got pushed out with the crowd.

After all the med students are gone, Dr. Cox turns to me and says. "Look, my med students will be diagnosing your torso, and by that I mean that they will be studying how bad and deep the bruising is. Then they will explain to me how to treat them, and since they are just med students, they will most likely get it wrong. So, until they get it right, they will keep coming back to you and do the same thing. So, if I were you, I'd get comfy because you're gonna be here a while."

"What about lunch?" I ask him.

"Well, we have lunch at around noon for about half an hour. And after the morning classes my class will go to a different classroom and another class will come by and do the same thing the morning class did."

"Well that's fantastic." I roll my eyes.

He smiles at this and says. "I know. Hey don't you have class right now?"

"While I was waiting for you I called in sick." I sigh. "Hey dr. cox do I have to be here all day?"

"Yeah you do. I spent all night long dragging your unconscious ass to make sure you were alright, so yeah, you're staying."

After he said that some blond skinny doctor comes in holding a phone. She says to Dr. cox. "Hey Doctor? I need you to-"

She tries to finish but he interrupts her. "Barby I'm kinda busy here can't you see that?"

Very smugly she says. "Fine, I'll just tell Jordan that you won't be picking up Jack and little JD later at day care." She then sticks her tongue out at him and walks away.

Cox grunts at this and walks off after her. And when he leaves I notice that both Gwen and Courtney are gone. Great, just great. I then sit back in my hospital bed and think. 'I'm probably gonna pay for this later.'

A few minutes later all the students are back in scrubs. Scrubs are cheap plastic clothes doctors use to help sterilize their environment and to keep contaminants both off themselves and their patients. I then see Gwen in the middle right of the crowd. She's fully scrubbed, med mask and all. It's pretty easy to find her, you know with the teal hair and all. And she's still looking at my bruised face, along with half of the class.

Hoping that she still has her phone, I send her a text telling her to keep her mouth shut and that no one knows. She checks her pocket and reads my text. She then looks back at me and nods signifying that she got the message.

Dr. Cox then comes back into the room talking to his phone and says. "Yeah, yeah I'll pick up the kids. Yeah, yes, I'll… sorry honey, I'm going through a tunnel." He then tosses the phone over to his desk. Glad I'm not married.

"Now class, come over here now." He says when he walks over to me.

He then points at me and says. "This fine young man here slipped and fell down a flight of stairs last night and I spent all of last night treating him for his injuries. He has graciously offered to let you murderers, assassins and butchers examine him and diagnose him. Now children let me direct you to his hat on his head" He then points to my head.

"Do not touch it. I have placed it on his head to act like a metaphor for head gear. If it is moved in any way shape or form you will automatically fail today's grade so watch out. And also I've noticed that you blabber mouthing phone jockeys love to talk so much that you seem to forget the very piece of medicine you are trying to study in class. So if I catch any of you, any at all, talking to him you will all sit in a room for a day watching and only watching shows that I find inhumane. ." Dr. Cox then turns back to his students and asks. "Is that clear?"

Most of the students have a face with a mix of fear and confusion, which I gotta say if I wasn't in pain, I'd laugh. After a few seconds of silence Gwen comes to the front of the group and asks. "Not really sir. What do you want us to do?"

Damn that girl has some balls, I'll give her that. But instead of Dr. Cox ripping her head off he simply grunts and says while making gestures. "Look, just don't move his hat and as an added metaphor for patients that, IF you are successful doctors, you will have many of. Just treat this guy as if he was a nameless or faceless guy you are diagnosing, OK? So, as of this moment, call him Mr. Anonymous and only ask him questions if they will help you in diagnose him alright."

The class then make gestures or say something that signifies that they understand. "Now, like I said before, I will pick one of you to patch up our new patient. Any guess who? Remember there is no wrong answer."

Some guy on the left of the group walks up and says. "Gwen because she was late?"

Gwen glares at the guy and he tries not to look at her. Whiney prick, you never call someone out unless you can back it up, dumbass. Dr. Cox grunts again and says. "Wrongo! It's all of you. That's the assignment for today: diagnosing a real, living, breathing patient. And if I was going to make only Gwen do it, it's not because she was late it's; because she's the best med student on this pathetic excuse of a class."

As he said the last part he looked at Gwen as to single her out amongst the other students, though Gwen doesn't' seem to mind as she looks at the guy who called her out in a gloating way.

"But you, on the other hand, are a completely different story." Dr. Cox then walks up to the guy while the other students back up. "Since you were so eager to throw your fellow student under the bus, you get to be the one who does the jumping under said bus. For the next two weeks you will be assistant to Todd, the surgical teacher. Enjoy."

For some reason the guy groans and gives a frustrated face. Maybe Todd's bad news. Whatever, serves him right. Dr. Cox then walks over to me and says. "OK, now for the next couple of hours you're gonna be their testing dummy. But, if they give you any problems, just come to me and I'll take care of it, OK?"

"Yeah, it's cool"

He then turns back to the students. "OK now get started and remember: no touchie his hat and no talky unless its important, got it?"

"Yes Dr. Cox" They all said at once.

"good children. Now, one more time, what's his name?"

The students didn't respond like they did before, they all kinda froze up. Come on guys he just said it like five minutes ago. Only Gwen could remember; I could tell because she opened her mouth about to talk, but before she could get a word out some other girl behind her came out and said. "You never told us his name."

I can't see his face, but I can tell that Dr. Cox is visibly pissed because all the students look scared. But the good doctor doesn't kill anybody; all he does it grunt again and say. "OK, your helping stupid student number 1 with helping Todd when he's teaching CPR, got it?"

The girl has an OMG face that I hate, ha I'm starting to like Dr. Cox. "For the record, you mini assassins, his name is Mr. Anonymous and you will be diagnosing his head and torso, got it? Good." He then turns to me again. "Mr. Anonymous, please remove your shirt."

I ask myself 'is he serious?' Apparently he is, as he nods. Oh, what the hell. I take off my shirt in a way that will not disturb my hat, but God Almighty it hurt like hell just moving. I almost passed out from the strain! And hey, don't you judge me. You ever been beaten with brass folding chair and a baseball bat?

When I do manage to get it off some of the students gasp at the sight of me, Gwen included damn I must look like crap.

"Go!" he says pointing to me and walking away.

After he leaves the med students come at me and ask a bunch of questions, all of them are medical so that they won't cross Dr. Cox but I can't really tell them for two reasons. First is that I don't know that much about medicine, I may be a genius I'm not that good at medical stuff. And 2, is that they are job related. But when they asked why I can't tell them I say that it's their job as doctors to find out themselves and that Cox told me to say that and they seemed to buy it.

Though I did manage to tell them where it hurt and how bad and what I'm allergic to, it's not to say that there were not a few problems. Whenever one of them touched me where I got hurt, it took all I had not to punch them right in the face from the pain it caused. But hey, they're just doing their job. They have to do that, so yeah I take back what I said about Dr. Cox; the guy's a dick.

You know I'm starting to understand why he gets so pissed off at his students. So many of them ask him stuff that is so trivial and obvious, that if they asked me those questions that many times I'd through them out a window. And that's only half of the kids, the other half suggests stuff that just sounds stupid, like I need surgery or something. What the hell? If I needed surgery I'm pretty sure Dr. Cox would have said something last night when he was working on me.

From the look on his face, he was just as outraged as I was and gave another big speech on how snobby med students think they know more than an experienced doctor. And it was funny as hell seeing them squirm; man it's hard keeping an opinion of the good doctor.

After a few hours of having these idiots diagnose me, Cox comes back over to us and says to the class. "ok kiddies class time for you is almost over and lunch time is almost here so go change into your regular clothes and go unpack your juice boxes and lunchebles and meet back in the other classroom later."

The students are more than happy to leave because for the last hour I've been threatening to severely harm them from all the touching and poking of where I was BRUTALY BEATEN! After they leave Dr. Cox turns to me and says. "Look I'm gonna go get you some food. Whats your poison?"

"I don't know, a ham sandwich and some chips? I'll just take whatever they have in the cafeteria."

"Cool, be back in like 10 minutes ok." He said nodding.

"Alright." I said and soon after he left to go get me some food that I desperately need. Good I'm hungry. Normally with my appetite and how hungry I am I'd be thinking about food but right now I could care less.

What I'm really worried about is how Courtney is taking this. She saw me get beat up last night, I bet she didn't even get any sleep last night; and along with the night before she probably hadn't gotten any sleep for the last week with all the crap I put her through. God! And to top it all off I'm pretty sure that seeing me all busied up and in a hospital bed didn't do her any favors. Dammit.

"Hey Duncan."

Hearing this I look up to the door of the class room and see Gwen in street clothes with a sad look on her face. "Hey."

She then walks into the classroom and up to me and while she does I ask a very stupid question. "So how's Courtney taking this?"

"HOW DO YOU THINK, DUNCAN?" I hear Gwen scream.

"I'm sorry to hear that, I really am."

"I know you are. Look Duncan, I'm pretty sure you're a good guy and I have no idea what you're going through, but I've known Courtney forever so I know what I'm talking about when I say this. Courtney can't handle it."

"I know, I'm sorry." I said looking right at her.

"You're sorry? That's the best you can do? When courtney saw you this morning she froze up , I actually had to help her out the door and tell her to go to work!"

I don't really know what to say to that, so I don't say anything.

Gwen continues her speech saying. "She hasn't slept in days, she's super stressed out and angry and I think she got assaulted last night!"

"What? Courtney got assaulted last night?"

"Yeah! I saw the tazer I gave her and the battery showed that it's been used!"

"Holy shit." It's the only thing I can say.

It went silent between us for few seconds; we're both just staring at each other, not really saying anything. "Duncan, maybe… maybe you should just leave." Gwen suddenly said much calmer.

I don't answer her right away. I think about what she said and I see her point, I see what I'm doing to Courtney. And I can see the up side; I'll never get beat to within an inch of my life on a weekly basis ever again, or beat people until they pass out. But I can't just leave, I have nowhere to go. With my history no one will hire me without a college degree. That's why I'm here. I can't go back to the life. Not after what happened, not again, never again.

"I can't." I answer.

"What?" she asked.

"I can't leave. I'm sorry."

"Duncan I know that you're in deep but…"

"It's not just that!" I tell her loudly making her back up a bit.

"I have nowhere to go! I'm sorry about whats happened to Courtney, I really am. But I never asked for this. I never asked for her to be involved, for any of you to be involved! I just wanted a semblance of a normal life. I know that it was selfish, it know it was weak and I'm sorry but dammit! I'm only human.

And if I did leave now the club would get shot right to hell! And if that happened what do you think would to the other contestants huh? They would get thrown back onto the streets and will be forced to do anything they can, not to pay their bills, not to pay for gas, but just to feed themselves Gwen. Some would even die! I can't live with that!

I can only do one thing right now and that's try to survive until I get my diploma and live my life a free man, and somehow find a way to help them!" I say to her now standing up and holding my side.

She is now silent and from the look of her she is the one thinking on what to say now. She then asks. "Fine then Duncan what do you think we should do?"

After hearing her there really is only one option. "You and your group could… leave."

"What?"

"You heard me. Since I can't leave this school, you leave it. Forget you ever saw me, saw any of this. And go live your lives." I say to her.

She sighs and sits in the stool next to her and says to me with a sad face. "We can't do that either."

"Why not?"

"Because ever since you guys were almost mugged that night, Courtney feels like she owes you. She thinks you saved her life. And judging by the video we say she might be right but those guys wouldn't have killed her, would they?" She said looking intrigued at what my answer would be.

I sit back down on the hospital bed and answer. "Actually, they might have. Sickos like them are known for going too far or just straight out killing their victims. And even if they didn't, they still would have gang raped her and left her a bloody mess… and that would have been after they killed me. You saw the gun right?"

What I said must have shocked the living hell out of her because she looks like she lost whatever color she had left.

"yeah I did. So they would have killed you too?" She said looking reluctantly at me.

"they tried to stab me or beat me to death first but yeah, that's the reality of it."

"So you really did save her life that night?" She asked, still looking shocked and looking right at me.

"Yeah I probably did, or at least saved her from being raped and wishing she was dead." I said truthfully. Most girls who do survive that don't usually ever recover, far as I know.

"Well then you know why she can't just leave you." She said to me just before she rested her head in her hand.

I then sigh, lean back into the bed and say. "Yeah I know."

"What are we gonna do?"

I think for a bit, and I have an idea. "I'll tell you what, I'll think of something with this whole Courtney situation. Since my new deal with the dean I'll have more free time and for a genius like me I'll think of something."

She looks at me looking mad and says. "You better duncan. Because if anything happens to her." She then switches her mad face for a sad one. "I don't know what I'll do."

"It's ok, nothing's gonna happen to her, not with me around." I tell her trying to cheer her up. Though I don't really have much experience with it since I'm usually the one that makes the girl cry.

"You sure?"

"Yeah I'm sure." Huh, the whole pep talk thing looks like it worked because she looks more relieved. I'm getting better at this.

"Thanks." She said smiling at me.

"No problem." I smiled back to her.

"No." she says as she gets up off her seat. She then walks over to me saying. "I mean everything."

"What are you talking about?" I ask her.

She stops right in front of where I am and says to me. "I don't know if Courtney told you this before but, before she met you, her last boyfriend royally screwed her over. He did everything he could to ruin her life. And after it was over she kinda swore off men. She only kept relations with them at a superficial level. And whenever things went anything close to more than that she broke it off or went so crazy that she made them break up with her. But since you came along and got her and the rest of us caught up in this whole craziness, she's actually trying to make a connection with you." She said to me, smiling like she did before.

"Ah ok, I don't really know what to say to that." I say to her. Really I don't. This whole 'having people in your life that care about you' thing is new to me.

"Don't, then." She then bends down to where I am sitting and hugs me. F'ing hugs me. What the hell. I don't respond to it by she then continues saying. "Just listen to me thank you." She then squeezes tighter and says. "Thank you for everything you've done to make her life better, and thank you for saving her life. And I know you didn't mean to push Courtney."

She then let's go of me and stand up. "If you ever need anything just ask, OK?"

"I will, thanks, I guess." I say since nothing else comes to mind.

"No problem." She then looks at her watch and says. "Oh crap! Is that the time? Lunch is almost over, I gotta go. Later Duncan."

"Later." I say to her as she leaves the room. After she goes I think about what just happened. What did just happen? First she's yelling at me, then she bargains with me, then she thanked/ hugged me. Is everyone in Courtney's group bipolar?

Well, whatever, I guess I made a friend today, or something. Jesus it freaked me out how concerned she was over Courtney! Coming from a family of seasoned Irish cops and a childhood of a real life law and order cop show, I never really saw anybody be that concerned for someone else. And when I did I just thought that they were being sissies, or something. But this, this is different.

What she said about Courtney, what I'm doing to her, and what happened to her last night. I need to talk to her, and I need to talk to her now. I thought as I try to get up out of the bed only to be met with incredible pain all over my torso, so I'm forced to sit back down. Dammit. I should have asked Gwen to help me up before she left.

Oh well I doubt the doc would have let me leave anyway.

"Hey, I'm back. I brought you an Italian hero sandwich, a soda and some chips." Said Dr. Cox walking in with a cafeteria trey in his hands with some food on it.

"Thanks doc." I say as he sets down the food next to the table that's next to the bed.

"No problem. So you ready for the next class?" he asked as I take the first bite of the sandwich.

"Actually about that, I was hoping I could actually leave. I got some important stuff to take care of."

He frowns at this and says. "Yeah well to bad. You owe me, hero. I spent all of last night watching your sorry ass so I missed reading a bed time story to my kids. You're staying here, got it?" he said as he folded his arms.

Unable to say anything back I just take another bite of my sandwich. Hardcore alpha assholes like him don't respond to sympathy. I would know.

But the second I swallow my second bit another doctor walks in. He's a little skinnier than Cox, he's wearing blue scrubs and has poofy hair. He comes in and says. "Hey there per per, how's it going?"

Dr. Cox grunts at this; this guy must really annoy him. This new guy then walks up to where we are and as soon as he sees me he says. "Ohhh, is this that volunteer medical dummy? Good because my interns are dynamite and they could use the practice. Even though their way better than some people's." He said pointing to Dr. Cox.

Dr. Cox seems to know that this new guy was talking about his med students because he is looking super pissed. Cox then looks at me and says. "You know what? You can go, go take care of your business."

Sweet! I try to get up but I have the same problem as before. And while I'm trying to move I hear from the skinny guy. "Wait, my med students really need the practice. Can't you make him stay?"

"Sorry there Dolores but this man who-" He then turns to me and sees that I am having trouble getting out of the bed. "Is having a hard time getting out of the hospital bed."

He then walks over to me and helps me up. "Thanks man."

"No problem. This man has important business to attend to and since he spent his morning here I think he deserves the rest of the day off. Don't you?"

The new guy is shocked, almost like he is about to cry. Man this guy is the biggest sissy I have ever seen. I think I know why Dr. Cox called him a girl's name.

I then walk passed him and to the exit. But on my way the new guy puts his hand on my shoulder to stop me and asks me. "Oh won't you stay and be my testing dummy? They could really use it and it would mean so much to me."

What the fuck is with this guy he sounds like my damn Grandma. "Um sorry Dolores, but I have things to take care of." I then turn back to Dr. Cox and say. "Thanks again man you saved my ass."

"No problem. If you need any help medically you know where to go. So say good bye to him, Lesley."

I only heard the guy say. "My name is Dr. Dorian."

I don't answer back because by the time he's done saying that I'm already out the door. I then take out my phone and call Courtney. After a few rings I get her voice mail. "This is Courtney, leave a message."

"Hey Courtney this is Duncan. We need to talk. Meet me at your dorms after you're done with work, ok? We have some things to get straight between us." I then hang up the phone. And walk off to finish my food.

XXX

A few hours later I'm outside of Courtney's dorm. It's around 6:00 pm or so, so she should be done with class by now. I take out my phone and call her. After a few rings she answers. "Hello."

"Hey Courtney its me."

"I know I saw the caller ID."

"So where are you?" I ask her.

"I'm in my dorm."

"Well I'm right outside of it. Ya wanna let me in?" I ask her as I knock a bit on her door.

Almost right after I do that she opens the door, kind of like she was expecting me. As soon as she sees me she gasps and she says to me. "Are you ok? You look like crap."

"Yeah I've been getting that a lot lately. Buy yeah Court, I'm fine, I've been through worse." I said as I walk past her and in to her dorm.

As I do she says to me. "That's not reassuring, Duncan. It's hardly any better."

I turn to her and ask. "Where are Gwen and Bridget?"

"With Trent and Geoff, they're going on a double date or something. I asked them to let me have the dorm for the night so we can talk like you wanted."

"So you did get my message." She nods at my question.

"Yeah I did. What did you wanna talk about?" She said looking nervous at me while she takes another sip of what smells like hot chocolate. I'm gonna have to ask about that latter.

I look at her for a second. Her skin looks greasier than usual, she's also lost some color and she has bags under her eyes. Clearly she's sleep deprived. I then look around her dorm and then in her kitchen. There are empty plastic cups all over, some are even still half empty, and they all look and smell like coffee and hot chocolate.

"How you been sleeping courtney?" I ask her looking right into her eyes.

She looks away from me and says nervously. "Just fine. No different than usual."

Man she cannot lie. "Ok then." I then point to her drink and ask. "How many of those you had in the last 24 hours?"

"Um, uh, just a few. Why are you asking?" she said as she took one last gulp of her drink. OK enough of this crap.

"What happened last night, Courtney?" I ask.

"I don't know what you're talking about..." She says while she starts fidgeting like crazy and walked over to the other side of the room, and not in a straight line. I'm talking zigzag. Oh god that's a tell tell sign of something really traumatic. Shit.

When she gets to the other side of the room she won't turn around to look at me and just faces the bland white wall. "Courtney? Courtney look at me." She doesn't do anything and continues to stare at the wall.

"Gwen told me what happened." I say to her and immediately she turns around wide eyed and on the verge of tears.

"How could she know? I didn't tell her-" she said holding back tears.

"So something did happen?" I ask her. She doesn't respond well to that.

"That was not funny, Duncan!" She screams at me.

"Who said I was joking?" I tell her. When I do she goes over to the couch and sits down on it and stares at the floor.

I walk up to her and say. "Look, Gwen told me that someone assaulted you. Is that true, did something happen to you?"

As soon as I say that she sort of just started crying. Oh shit. Dammit. How the hell am I supposed to handle this?

"Courtney?"

"Yes, Duncan, something did happen to me." She said while staring right into my eyes, her mascara running a little bit.

"What? What happened to you?"

She sighed and said. "After your fight last night I tried to contact you but you wouldn't answer. So Gwen, Bridget, Harold and I decided it was just best to go back to the dorms. After they left I went back to my car and when I did, some guy I pissed off earlier that night came to get back at me and, he... almost raped me."

"He almost raped you?" I can feel something in me welling up. It isn't good.

"Yeah. At first I was super scared of what he was gonna do, but then I remembered what happened the day before when three thugs almost did the same thing. So I got all pissed off that I was being intimidated by this one drunk guy was trying to rape me when three couldn't do it. Even without your help I thought I could handle it myself."

"So what did you do?"

"Well while he had me pushed against my car with my back turned to him, I kicked him in the balls while he was unbuckling his pants. So he let go of me to grab his family jewels. And when he did I turned around and used Gwen's taser she gave me and shocked him in the chest. He then dropped to the ground and called me a bitch. I then drove back to the dorms."

After listening to what happened to her I gotta say I am impressed. Most girls would have just sat back and took it and switched to chicks or became a super feminist… that or killed herself. But her, wow, she fought back. And won, no less!

"You did good Courtney, I'm impressed." I say to her with a smile. But of course it doesn't end there.

"That's not all of it Duncan!"

"What? What happened after that?"

"Well when I was driving home I was so proud of myself for how I handled that guy. How I just handled a would be rapist. It felt so great; I then thought that even if you weren't there I could have handled those guys a few days ago who cares if they were the city's worst serial gang bangers, I could have taken them. But then it hit me. I was almost raped two times in two days and in the second one it almost happened. I then thought, what would happen tomorrow? Will I actually be raped then? I then tried to drink the cold cup of hot chocolate I had in my car and I asked myself; how many of these have I drank? And then I asked myself when the last time I slept was? You know what my answer was Duncan? When I first saw you fight. And that was over a week ago, or more. I don't even know anymore."

"I'm sorry, Courtney."

"Look Duncan, I'm not like you. I can't handle all this. I'm a lawyer. I can handle the most insane courtroom, or class room. I can debate with the best of them. But this? Seeing you get beaten within an inch of your life only for you to do the same to them, get almost rapped twice and only to see you in the hospital the next day looking like you got run over by a semi-truck?"

She then looks at me again, maybe expecting an answer of some kind; honestly I don't really know what to say to her. But before I can think of anything she continues with. "But I can't just leave you. Not now. Not after you almost died saving my life. I am going to help you if it's the last thing I do. And if my insomnia continues, it might not be long."

She says that last part looking back at the ground and not at me as if she wants it to be a joke but isn't so sure it is. I think about all of what she said. About how hurt and scared she is, and to be honest, I'm a little mad and guilty for letting this happen to her. She must have felt so scared and helpless on the drive home last night, about how she can't defend herself but I could. Wait I could.

"You must have felt really scared and helpless on the drive home last night."

She looks up to me and says reluctantly. "I don't wanna admit it, but yes I did. I still do."

I then kneel right in front of her so that my face is right in front of hers. I then say. "Well I can help with that."

She looks right at me and asks. "What are you talking about?"

"You said you felt scared and helpless, well I can help with that."

"How?"

"I can teach you to defend yourself."

"Really? How?" She says, looking a bit confused. Weird, usually she can figure out something this simple easily. Must be the sleep deprivation.

"You said you can handle one guy with your taser. Well I can teach you to handle a hundred with just your hands and feet."

She's hesitant for a second but then says. "If I wasn't so sleep deprived I would so have something to say right now."

I smile at this and say to her. "Don't worry about it. It happens to the best of us." I then close in and give her a quick kiss. She seems a little surprised by this but doesn't do anything so I then kiss her again, this time a little longer. I stop and am about to kiss her again but this time she kisses's me. We are like that for I think 10 seconds. Neither one of us wants to break the kiss. She then wraps her arms around my neck and pulls me in closer. It was amazing.

We are like this for a few more seconds but eventually we stop to breath and while we are taking deep breaths we look at each other and I think we both have the same idea. We then kiss again, and this time it's a full on make out session. I then take off my leather jacket and ask her. "You really ready for this?"

She kisses me again. "Are you kidding? I need this!" She says as she takes off her sweater vest revealing her white dress shirt.

I am in love with this girl. I then lean in closer to her and she leans back and falls on the couch. I fallow her and land on top of her. We both laugh at this and we start kissing again. She then starts unbuttoning her shirt. And while I love it I'm really starting to hate my genius level intellect because I then ask. "Aren't you worried that Gwen and Bridget might come back and see us?"

She immediately stops and says. "Oh your right. We have to stop here."

She then gets up off the couch and walks off and turns a corner. She then comes back and says to me seductively. "Come on we can finish this in my room."

Have I ever said I love this chick? "God you're amazing." I say as get off the couch and fallow her.

She smiles at this and I think she blushed. "I know. Come on, lover boy."

"Yes sir! I mean, ma'am!" I say as I fallow her to her room.

When she opens her door I caught up to her and we start kissing again. As we walk over to the bed in her room, still kissing, I then take off my shirt too. Which still hurt like a bitch. Dammit I wish I asked for pain meds before I left the medical wing.

As I took off my shirt she starts to unbutton her shirt again. When we finally make it to the bed it's kind of like how we fell on the couch only this time I landed first. I landed on my back and while her bed is soft and comfy it still hurt like a bitch but I did everything I could to hide the pain and Courtney seemed to have bought it because she didn't stop. She didn't' even have her eyes open.

After a few seconds of kissing and her trying to take off her shirt, I think the whole sleep deprivation thing is making it hard for her, we start to slow down. We start to kiss less and less. It's not like we still didn't want to do it, lord knows I still did, but it's just that her bed was so soft and warm like I said before.

Knowing why I'm slowing down I look to see why she is and I can tell by looking at her she is fighting to stay awake. We still keep trying for a wee bit but by the time Courtney got the third button undone we stopped. She was lying on my chest just barely keeping her eyes open. And you can tell that they were getting heavier every second. Same with me.

My body is so tired and sore that just trying to stay awake feels like the hardest thing I have ever done. The last thing I see is Courtney still on my bare chest eye's closed sleeping soundly for the first time in probably over a week. Everything… then… turns…. Black.

"Good night."

_Well that's it for this chapter and I know I got a few things to clear up. First off like I said the scrubs characters in this chapter was a onetime thing and will not come up again and if they do only as come characters or guest stars._

_The second thing is Gwen. I know that having her and Duncan being friends or even remotely close is pretty dangerous. But hey Duncan does need a friend in this story besides Courtney, that's a fact people and Gwen was just the easiest person to do that_

_The next part was Courtney. I know that she is known for being the strong or arrogant super CIT but come on for this to be done realistically I had to give her a human side. That means that she had to crack under the pressure of all that had happened to her since this story began. And I needed a way to set up the next plot device. Can you guess what that is?_

_And of course the almost lemon in this chapter. I'm not gonna apologize for that one I had fun writing that. I thought that it would be both more realistic and funnier for them to fall asleep than to actually have sex. Was I wrong? But if your disappointed just wait until the next chapter when Gwen and Bridget find them. Ha, ha, that's gonna be great._

_Oh and I did put my pen name in there and if you notice d good for you._

"the best things about friends is that they are always there for you.

And the best thing about sleep deprived girlfriends is that they are always ready sleep with you. And not that way pervs! Ha ha"


	16. Pegasus

_Ok hello everyone sorry for the long delay but my personal life has been interfering with my writing life and it's a huge pain in the ass. Now you might have remembered that I posted that I would put this story on hiatus but that's wrong. Sorry for messing with you I just needed time._

_About this chapter there is one thing you should probably know. While I do usually write in either Courtney's or Duncan's point of view, or that of someone close to them, this time it will be in third hope you like it. Now then on to the next chapter, Please enjoy and read and review ok._

_This has been rewritten, I own nothing, enjoy._

**DESPERATION**

**CHAPTER 16- Pegasus**

At around 11:30 Bridgette and Gwen walked into the dorm building after Bridgette picked up Gwen and riding home listening to Bridgette's iPod. When they got out of the car Gwen asked. "So, how did your night with Geoff go, Bridgette? Did he throw another one of his great parties?"

"Yeah Geoff threw another party at his frat and it was amazing! How was your day with Trent?" Bridgette answered walking with Gwen into the dorm building.

"Oh, Trent had a music gig at a place near the college and that was fun."

"I'll bet." Bridget answered cheerfully. But soon after she did there was an awkward silence between them. But soon Gwen grew tired of it and spoke. "Okay, let's just stop tip toeing around this. How was the party with Geoff really?"

Bridgette bursts out. "I couldn't get into it and after like 10 minutes I told Geoff that there was a potential story down at the lagoon I could do for extra credit and spent the next couple of hours at the lost lagoon (real place). How about you?"

"Same. Though I left after about 15, told Trent I had to finish up some med school homework that Dr. Cox wanted me to get done before break. But I spent the next few hours at the library listing to my iPod. I just came back to the music place when you said you were gonna pick me up."

"Huh, and Trent bought the homework thing?"

"I don't know, I wasn't really paying attention, I was too busy thinking about the conversation me and Duncan had at the med school. Did Geoff buy the whole story thing?"

"Um, he said 'It's cool' and then said 'woo.' And what conversation with Duncan? What did you guys talk about?" Bridgette asked.

"Well I told him how Courtney is and that he's responsible." Gwen said with a guilty face.

"Wow, that was nice, he saved her life Gwen." Bridgette said, slightly agitated.

"I know that but Courtney hasn't slept in over a week and you saw how she was. Anyway, since Duncan can't leave and Courtney won't leave, him Duncan said he'd take care of it."

"How do you think he'll take care of it?" Bridget said while she and her friend walked up to the front door of their dorm.

"I don't know, but uh wow how did we not notice that we were almost at our dorm." Gwen said nervously.

"Yeah I'm a little scared to go in. How do you think Courtney is now?" Bridget said equally as nervous.

"Um, I don't know, do you think that she'll be any better than last time?"

"How did she take seeing Duncan at the med school today?"

Gwen paused for a second to remember how Courtney was that morning when she saw Duncan beaten and bruised. "Not well, not well at all."

Bridget sighed, "Come on, let's get this over with, we have to do it sooner or later and hey we might even be able to help her this time." Bridgette then took out her keys and started to unlock the door.

Gwen sighed in agreement, "You're right."

Bridgette opened their dorm door and they both walked in. When they did, they saw that instead of seeing their soon to be lawyer friend in the kitchen hysterically chugging down gallon after gallon of hot chocolate and coffee while trying to hold back tears. The duo could only see discarded plastic cups that were stained on the inside with the remains of the famous beverage that littered the kitchen and other parts of the dorm.

"Um ok, that's surprising." Stated Bridgette after observing the kitchen.

"Where do you think she is?" asked Gwen while she went over to check the liquid chocolate mess.

"Don't know but hey, isn't it good that she's not like last time?" Bridget said in an optimistic tone.

"Yeah I guess, but where is she?" asked Gwen, still concerned.

Seeing enough of the kitchen, Bridgette walked over to see the living room that was right next to the kitchen. When she went into the living room she also didn't see her missing friend, but she did see her trademarked sweater vest and pumps on the couch, along with a leather jacket, and solid black baseball cap that did not belong to her. Seeing this, Bridgette said to Gwen who was still in the kitchen. "Hey Gwen, come and see this."

"What is it…" Gwen asked when she came in the room but stopped when she saw the discarded clothes.

Both Gwen and Bridgette were wide eyed and slacked jawed at the sight of the clothes. It wasn't the clothes themselves that surprised them so much as it was that it was their prude of a friend who the sweater vest and pumps belonged to, and the leather jacket and hat that belonged to the mystery man who was her boyfriend. Both people were always seen wearing them and for the clothes to be off their owners but in the same room left few explications as to why.

"Is that? Are those? Wow!" Bridgette said pointing at the discarded clothes still wide eyed.

"Yeah, they are, but lets not jump to conclusions. After all they aren't here." Gwen said trying to excuse away the thought in her head.

"True and only her sweater vest and his jacket and hat are here and not anything else, or themselves so maybe they just, just, oh I don't know." Bridgette also said, failing to explain away the situation.

"I'm gonna try and call Courtney and ask her where she is." Gwen said taking out her phone and calling Courtney on speed dial.

"Uhhh! Voice mail." Gwen said frustrated as she hung up.

"So, what now?" asked Bridget.

"We keep looking. Let's go check her room." Gwen said pointing down the hall that led to the girl's room. The duo walked down the hall until they came to Courtney's room, whose door was closed but had a beat up green men's shirt in front of it.

Bridgette then picked it up and said. "What are the odds that this isn't our battered and bruised friend's shirt?"

Gwen said nothing but had a face that expressed extreme anger. Gwen then opened the door to Courtney's room and when she did, she saw something she wished she hadn't. When she opened the door both Gwen and Bridgette saw an unconscious half shirted Courtney on top of a bare chested and asleep Duncan.

Seeing this Bridgette very giddily said. "Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god! Do you see this?"

While Bridgette was happy to see the sight, Gwen was not. Gwen said, In extreme anger. "I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS!"

"Um, what?" Bridgette asked losing her giddy smile.

Gwen then turned around and headed back to the living room. While she did, Gwen ranted. "I trusted that Ass! He said he'd take care of it and his idea of taking care of it is having sex with Courtney!"

"Gwen, calm down. Its not that bad." Bridgette said trying to calm down her friend, but failing.

Gwen then went into the kitchen and started digging through drawers while continuing her rant ignoring her friend's plies. "After that whole soul searching talk we had, he does this?"

Gwen then finds her prize, she was looking for; a pair of scissors. Gwen then started walking back to Courtney's room but was stopped by Bridgette before she could exit the kitchen. "What are you going to do with those?"

Gwen angrily answered. "I'm going to do what we threatened to do to Harold."

Bridgette confidently stood up to her friend and said. "Oh no you're not. Look, don't jump to conclusions ok. And look." Bridgette then directs to Courtney's room which was still open and Courtney and Duncan were visible to the duo.

"They still have their pants on so they couldn't have had sex, so calm down and be quite, you'll wake them up." Bridgette said the last part in a whisper.

Gwen retorted. "Oh please, look at them their out cold. HEY GUY'S YOUR HALF NAKED AND WE CAN SEE YOU!"

Neither Duncan nor Courtney so much as stirred from what Gwen shouted. Bridgette annoyed by her friend asked. "Happy now?"

Still quite peeved, Gwen answered while still holding onto the scissors. "No, I'm still pissed."

"Well your going to have to wait until tomorrow to do anything to them. Look Gwen, Duncan's injured and Courtney hasn't slept in days and both of them really need the sleep, you said it yourself."

Gwen sighs and says. "OK, then I'll wake them up first thing tomorrow morning and I am going to find out what happened."

"No let them sleep in tomorrow. It's the first day of break and like I just said, they could really use it."

Gwen seeing her logic sighs and relents. "You're right. I'm going to bed. Later."

"Yeah, night." Bridgette said going to her own bedroom.

XXX

At around 9:00 AM the next day Gwen and Bridgette were sitting in the living room fully dressed waiting for their friends to wake up. Gwen was drawing in a sketchbook on the couch while Bridgette was sitting in a chair reading a newspaper.

After a few minutes of silence, Gwen's frustration came to a boiling point and she slammed her book shut and angrily says. "Okay, I'm done waiting, I'm gonna go wake them up."

Bridgette sat down her paper and got up and said while fallowing her angry friend. "Gwen no, we talked about this. They need their sleep."

Gwen stops to argue and says. "All I know is that Duncan said he'd help Courtney and the next thing I know is that Courtney is asleep half naked on him. And I am going to find out why."

"Well you can wait. Courtney will explain soon enough ok so calm down already… So how's Trent?"

"Don't change the subject. Uhh! Why aren't you angry about this?"

"Why are you? Yes Duncan said he would help Courtney, and in a way he did Gwen. Courtney is sleeping now, something she hasn't done in who knows how long. And come on, don't tell me you're not a little giddy about this. Courtney is half dressed on a bare-chested Duncan how are you not eeping right now. She's never done something like this with anyone not even Al." Bridgette said holding back an eeping frenzy herself.

Gwen sat back down on the couch. "Even if it wasn't with Duncan I'm still not the eeping type. I'd just tease her about it. And yeah if I weren't so pissed, I probably wouldn't be able to wait to do that."

"You'll have your chance when and only when Courtney wakes up." Bridgette said with her hands on her hips in a typical Courtney fashion.

Gwen sighed again, "Yeah, your right. So how are things between you and Geoff?"

Bridgette, surprised at her friends off handed question, asks. "Why are you asking?"

"Well you asked how it was going between me and Trent, so it's only fair that I can ask about your boyfriend." Gwen said matter of factly.

Bridgette sat back down on a chair across from where Gwen was sitting and spoke in a sort of awkward tone. "Great, though I just wish that he'd tone down the pot and boo's a bit. So how are things really going with Trent?"

"You already asked that."

"Yeah, but you never answered."

"Um I don't know. Things between me and him are kinda…" Gwen was interrupted when a yawning Courtney came in saying while heading to the kitchen. "Hey how's it going? Do we have any coffee?"

Unknown to herself but to anyone else with eye's Courtney was still wearing the same clothes as last night including the same shirt that was still only buttoned halfway up revealing the lacy black bra. Each one of the duo had a different reaction to the situation. Bridgette was holding back a laugh as best she could, while Gwen's anger returned.

Seeing the looks on her friends faces Courtney asked while making coffee. "How are you guy's doing?"

Gwen while scowling at Courtney said. "I'm just fine."

"I'm just fine too… ha." Bridgette said holding back even more laughs.

Courtney is a little put off by this and asks. "OK, what's going on?"

Bridgette then burst out laughing, holding her sides.

"OK, austerely, what's going on?"

While their blonde friend continued to laugh her head off. Gwen spoke directly to Courtney while still scowling. "Why don't you tell us?"

"What are you talking about?" Courtney said honestly not knowing.

Bridgette, who has stopped laughing at this point but still giggling said. "Look, both me and Gwen know what happened last night"

With a confused look, Courtney said. "Yeah, I still don't know what your talking about."

"Oh come on Courtney, even from where I'm sitting I can almost see Duncan still sleeping in your bed." Bridgette said while looking over at Courtney's room.

"Why would Duncan be in my roo-" Courtney stopped herself when she looked over at her room seeing her bruised and sleeping boyfriend. She screamed. "WAIT THAT WASN'T A DREAM! "

Courtney then runs off to her room to get a better look and to check if he is actually there and to make sure that what she thought she saw was not some insomniac hallucination.

When Courtney ran off Bridgette jokingly said. "Looks like it."

As soon as she said that Gwen lost her anger and started to crack a few laughs herself. Shortly after the duo hear from their friend who is right outside of her own bedroom door. "Wow."

Gwen and Bridgette then walk up to their freaked out friend and see that she was as wide eyed and slack jawed as they were the night before. Courtney then says to no one in particular. "I have a half-naked man asleep in my bed."

Bridgette then gently grabbed her friend's hand. "Come on, we should go and talk in the kitchen so we don't wake him up. He could really use the sleep."

The trio did as Bridgette suggested and they walked into the kitchen. When they do, Gwen who had regained her anger, asked. "What happened last night, Courtney?"

Courtney who was still pretty shook up, took a big gulp of her still scolding hot coffee and said, still in a freaked out fashion. "I have a half-naked man in my bed."

"Yes we established tha-" Gwen said but was cut off by Courtney who said loudly.

"AND I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING! I've got the hottest guy I've ever dated in my bed, half naked mind you, and I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING! How pathetic is that?"

What Courtney said shocked Gwen out of her anger and Bridgette out of her returned laughing fit. Still shocked Gwen asked. "Wait, you didn't do anything?"

"No I didn't isn't' that great? First he comes over and we have this huge heart to heart talk about how I'm doing, how I sleep, and how I almost got rapped two days in a row."

Bridget then interrupts and asks. "You almost got rapped two days in a row?"

Courtney ignored her friend and continued. "Then I tell him how I can't handle it. Then he said how I must have felt so helpless, which I agreed to. Then he'd tell me he'd teach me how to defend myself. Which was strangely sweet. Then he kissed me, then he kissed me again, then I kissed him, then he asked me if I was ok with it and I said I was, I took off my sweater vest while he took off his jacket.

Then we made out on the couch, but before we could do anything we had to move to my room in case you guy's showed up. Thanks, by the way." She said off handedly pointing at her shocked friends.

"When we got to my room we continued where we left off at the couch. With him taking off his shirt while I tried unbuttoning my shirt. WHICH WAS WAY HARDER THAN IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN! Then he fell back on the bed on his back and I landed on him and we started kissing again and we would have taken it further but… GOD DAMMIT! The bed was just so comfortable, and I was soooo tired. No matter how hard I tried I just couldn't stay awake. And I fell asleep right there. On Duncan's bear chest.

I slept with the hottest guy I've ever been with, and not in a fun way." Courtney took another large gulp of her coffee. "Isn't that just my luck?"

After hearing this both Gwen and Bridget are for the hundredth time in the last 12 hours, wide eyed, slack jawed, and completely and utterly shocked. Gwen tried to say something, "uh…" but her mind wouldn't process any further.

But before she has the chance to say anything Duncan comes in still shirtless and announces "Why are you guy's so loud, I was trying to sleep."

The girls stare at Duncan who was still very bruised but not nearly as bad as before as many of his former heavily black and blue bruises are now a dark yellow. While the trio still shocked at Duncan, he himself stared down at Courtney's still uncovered chest and asks. "Is this a dream?"

Courtney gasps and turns around and starts buttoning up her shirt. Both Bridgette and Gwen laugh at this and when they do Duncan says. "Well if it is a dream it's a pretty bad one since there is no monkey in a suite on a unicycle flipping me the bird."

While Courtney is buttoning her shirt Bridgette is still laughing at Duncan's comment, but Gwen regained her anger for the 10th time that morning and said. "Duncan, you're up."

"Yep but why were you guy's screaming so loud? And uh, have you seen my shirt and hat?" he asked the last part looking around the dorm.

Bridgette still laughing a little bit said pointing to the couch. "Yeah its over there with your jacket."

Duncan then went off and to go get his clothes. When he does Bridgette noticed that Gwen was still glaring at him and Bridgette asked Duncan. "Hey how are the bruises?"

Also interested Courtney asked. "Yeah how are they? Are you ok?"

Duncan while putting on his shirt said. "Actually after that sleep I had I'm still sore but much better."

Courtney still worried asks. "Are you sure? The bruises look even bigger and they actually look worse."

Before Duncan could respond Gwen answered. "That's actually a good thing since they are more visible now it means that his body is healing. And actually since his beating was so bad you shouldn't have healed this much, in fact you shouldn't even be moving."

"Eh I'm a quick healer." Duncan said nonchalantly.

There was then an awkward silence in the room for a few minutes until Bridgette asked trying to break it. "Um, anyone hungry?"

Courtney answered. "Sure."

Duncan said while looking at Gwen who is still glaring at him. "Uh yeah I could use a bite."

"Great, let's go to Ihop."

"Ok." Courtney answered.

"Sure." Duncan said still awkwardly staring down Gwen.

Gwen then sighed and said in a defeated tone. "Fine. Let's go."

The group then left the dorm and went to their cars in the parking lot. When they did, Duncan asked curiously. "Hey how many cars do you guy's have?"

"Oh, we only have one. Since most places we go to are either on campus or close to it we didn't really see why we should get more than one." Courtney answered matter of factly.

"Um ok. That makes sense I guess." Duncan said.

"Yeah but it sucks some times. Like today after we go to Ihop I'm going to have to take a cab to the med school because the good old dr. cox wants all the med students to do some last minute paperwork at the med school." Gwen said annoyed.

"Well I'd be ok with dropping you off, but we're going to have to take my car along with yours to Ihop." Duncan suggested. "It's right over there." Duncan said pointing at his ford focus not too far from where the front of the building was.

Courtney eagerly said. "Sweet, I'll ride with Duncan."

Duncan smiled at this but Gwen dragged him to his car and announced. "I think you guys have spent enough time together. I'll drive with him."

Courtney a little scared of her friend said. "Um, ok." Courtney then got into her car with Bridgette.

When Duncan and Gwen get over to the car Gwen tries to get into the drivers seat but is stopped by Duncan who says. "Wow, hold your Goth horses there pasty. I'm the only one who drives this baby."

After hearing his statement Gwen tries to stair him down but after a few seconds and no indication that Duncan would let up and let her drive, Gwen backed off and admitted defeat. "Fine, you drive."

Gwen then got into the passenger's seat while Duncan got in the driver's seat where he rightly belonged, according to him.

The dyed hair duo then left the parking lot after Courtney and Bridgette for Ihop. Duncan then asked. "Do you really have some 'last minute paperwork' for Cox or was that just bull?"

Annoyed Gwen answered. "No, I really do have some to do and it's a pain in the ass."

"Well, Cox is the type of guy to do that… ok I'm just gonna ask the question. What's your problem with me? What'd I do?"

Gwen, in a very four-year-old pouty fashion, answered. "Nothing, nothing's wrong I don't have a problem with you. I just wanted to spend time with my 'friend' that's all."

"Okay, I'll be honest here, usually if a girl is mad at me I wouldn't really care but since I'm kinda low on friends right now, I wanna keep the few I got so, I'll ask again; what's your problem?"

Gwen then sighed for the millionth time in the last 12 hours and asked. "You really don't know I thought you were a genius or something."

"Yeah but I'm way too sore to play games. I just want to know what's wrong and I'm sorry for whatever I did."

Gwen whose frustration and anger came to a boiling point burst out. "Are you kidding? After the whole heart to heart talk we had yesterday, and how you promised to take care of Courtney. Your idea of 'taking care of her' is sleeping with her? Seriously! And if you two hadn't been so sleep deprived you would have actually 'slept together'."

Duncan not really embarrassed or apologetic said. "Oh, um, yeah. Look I'm sorry it just happened like that."

"'You're sorry it just happened like that', that's your best excuse? Really? You probably just said something to get Courtney into bed when she was in a weak moment. I should turn you into the cops. I trusted you and you took advantage of her. Typical guy you're just like Alejandro and, and-"

"Wow. Where is that coming from? Yes me and Courtney would have had sex last night but I am telling the truth when I say it just happened that way. "

"Yeah I bet it did."

"Yes it did, and having sex was both are idea not just mine. Now what's really bothering you?"

Gwen doesn't answer and is just silently sitting in the passenger seat. But she wasn't like before and just pouting like a kid, this time she was acting as if she was hiding a not so nice secret. Duncan notices this and asks his maybe friend. "Come on pasty."

"Okay, it's my boyfriend Trent. Lately he's been getting really territorial with me and every time I talk to another guy he gets all possessive, even though I know that he does stuff with other girls.

Like last night when I tried to leave his gig he got angry and almost didn't let me leave. If he didn't have to sing he would have made me stay. And I don't know why but he's obsessed with the number nine for some reason."

"What do you mean by nine?"

"He does everything in nines; nine bumper stickers, nine fake sugars for his coffee, and nine whatever. I think he has OCD. His band is even named the nine knights even though there are only like four guys in his band."

"Ok weird, but if that's true why haven't you broken up with him yet? Have you told Bridgette or Courtney?"

"I don't want either of them to know or be involved! I… I don't want to look weak in front of them. I've always been the strong one."

"I thought Courtney was the strong one, you know with the whole high strong lawyer thing she has going on."

"No she's the extreme one, you know the one who always gets into your face. She puts way too much pressure on herself to be considered the strong one."

"Yeah I get that."

"I don't really know why I haven't broken up with him yet. He's nothing like how we first dated." Gwen said sadly.

"I'm sorry to hear that." Duncan said thinking.

"Please don't tell Courtney and Bridgette about my problems with Trent."

"I understand I can keep a secret, but on one condition; you forgive me for almost sleeping with Courtney. I really did help her if you think about it. Courtney has slept soundly for the first time in a while."

"All right fine, you're forgiven."

"That's good." Duncan said with a smile but when he looks back over at Gwen he sees that she's still sad over the trap she's in. Duncan, who's had way more experience than he should on the minds of people like Trent, says something that he thinks might help.

"I once knew a few guys like Trent; Guys who are controlling to their current significant others. Girls loved them because of how they were when they first dated. Let me guess, when you and Trent first dated was he charming and caring? A bit of a softy with a poet vibe?"

Gwen amazed at his assumption answered. "Um, yeah he was. He was exactly."

"When did you two start dating?"

"When we were both 16 in high school."

"When did he start getting possessive?

"Um, about a year ago when he started doing music gigs, and around the time his grandfather died."

"That explains it."

"What are you talking about?

"He's possessive because since I'm guessing that he moved out and playing music gigs that everything is changing for him and he has no sense of control. The only thing that has stayed the same was you. He's scared. His grand daddies' death was the last straw. He thinks that if he still has you and if he thinks he has control of you he still has control of his life."

Gwen is nothing short of shocked at his knowledge. The only time she has heard someone with that type of knowledge was when she talked to people who were trying to be psyche majors. But what he said aside Gwen had seen his grades and what classes he was in. there was no academic reason for him to know what he said. Impressed or no Gwen still had a few problems or at least one. "That makes sense I guess… no wait, no it doesn't he still has control of his life."

"He is probably doing it subconsciously and we're talking about someone who is not quite right in the head. You should trust me on this. I've been around guys like that all my life.

Gwen is again surprised at what Duncan said about his past. Almost as much as she was about the extent of his knowledge of the human mind, or at least the mind of a possessive and territorial asshole. But regardless Gwen decides not to say or ask anything about what he said about his past but instead decides to focus on what he said about other girls with the same problems. "Wait you said that you knew guy's like Trent, then you also must have known their girlfriends. How did the girls get out of those bad relationships? Did they just get better or…"

Duncan said sadly. "No, they don't usually get better, I'm sorry. Usually they just keep getting worse and worse until the girl is forced to leave or the guy is forced to leave her alone."

Gwen said in a defeated tone. "Oh."

Seeing his friend and how dejected she is asks offhandedly. "Hey, have you ever thought about getting piercings?"

Surprised at his question, Gwen answered. "I uh never really thought about it. Why do you ask?"

"I had piercings when I was in high school." Duncan admitted.

"Really? You don't seem like the type."

"I was a bit of a rebel in high school." Duncan laughed.

"Noo, really." Gwen laughed with him.

"Yeah, I had piercings in my eyebrows, nose, ears, lips, even my tongue."

"Oh my god! Really? Why'd you get rid of them?"

"Eh, had to grow up sometime." Duncan shrugged.

"Growing up is overrated."

"True, but have you ever been punched in the face while having piercings? It hurts."

"I can imagine." Gwen said while giggling a bit.

Duncan then did an impression of him getting punched in the face. "Dude you just punched my lip off! Oh man it hurts so much. Oh god."

Gwen started laughing like crazy from what Duncan did. Duncan seeing his friend enjoying his imitated pain said. "Well little miss angry Goth girl is laughing."

"Yep thanks to Mr. I don't know how to cheer up a girl."

"I had some practice lately." Duncan joked which made them both laugh.

The two then spent the rest of the ride to Ihop getting to know each other and enjoying the others company.

XXX

When the two sets of duos make it to Ihop Gwen and Bridgette walk in while Courtney walks up to Duncan and says. "Bridgette told me why Gwen was so upset. How was the drive with her?'

"Actually we worked it out and we're good."

"Are you guy's friends now?"

"I guess we are."

"Good."

When the couple gets into the restaurant Duncan says to Courtney. "Uh order me the belgon waffle combo. I got to go to the bathroom."

"Ok see you later." Courtney said while Duncan left to do his business. Shortly after Courtney found her friends sitting at a table big enough to hold all four of them. She then sat down with her longtime friends. Almost right after she did the waitress came up and asked them for their orders.

After the waitress left Courtney asked Gwen. "So Duncan said that you and him made up, that true?"

Gwen not afraid at all to admit says. "Yep we did. But we shouldn't really be talking about Duncan and me. We should be talking about you and him."

Confused, Courtney asked. "Why what do you mean?"

"I mean, you and Duncan huh? I still can't believe it."

"Why is that so hard to believe?" Courtney said trying not to be insulted.

"Well its just surprising that you almost did it with him." Gwen answered.

"It's not that surprising, you guys do it with your boyfriends." Courtney rebuked.

"Well yeah but its just that of all the boyfriends you've had we don't think that you've had 'relations' with any of them. Granted you usually weren't with them long enough to have relations with them but still. And we kind of doubt you had sex with Al, and then suddenly you almost did it with Duncan? He's changing you." Bridgette told her friend.

Courtney is a little put off by this and is a little angry with her friends for saying what they said. But before Courtney could rip their heads off Bridgette defended. "It's a good thing Courtney."

"I guess. Well, Duncan is special... obviously." Courtney admitted.

"That's true." Gwen admitted.

"Yeah but is he that kind of special Courtney?" Bridgette asked with a suggestive look.

Courtney catching on to what her friend was saying said defensively. "Wow, I don't know that yet I've only known the real Duncan few a little while, I have no idea if he is _that_ kind of special."

Gwen and Bridgette both laugh at this. Bridgette then says. "Relax Courtney."

Gwen continued. "We're just kidding. Besides Duncan doesn't really strike me as that kind of special. He's more of the ' I work for a secret criminal organization and I've got a heart of gold' kind of special."

The trio laughs historically at this but they are soon interrupted when Duncan returns and asks. "What's special?"

They all say together like a rerun of Charlie's angels. "Oh nothing."

"Um ok. What were you guy's, Talking about?" Duncan said trying to sit down but was clearly a painful activity for him.

"Uh nothing important. Are you ok?" Courtney asks seeing her still recovering boyfriend in pain.

"Yeah I'm fine. This, this is nothing I haven't been though before." Duncan said nonchalantly.

Annoyed at his comment, Courtney said. "You really have to stop saying that. We talked about this its not very reassuring."

"Ok I've wanted to ask you this question since I first saw you in my classroom yesterday; you've been beaten by guy's with a folding chair and a baseball bat, why don't you have any broken bones? How are you even able to stand?" Gwen asked extremely surprised at Duncan's apparent invulnerability.

"It's a little trick I learned. Whenever I'm about to get hit I back up before I get it, it sort of softens the blow. You'll still get hurt but not nearly as bad. So yeah it still hurts like a bitch but if I didn't do the whole back up thing I wouldn't have lasted more than the first hit. In fact I probably would have broken my beautiful face." Duncan joked.

The girls giggle at this and Gwen said her own joke. "Yeah it would be a crime for your 'beautiful' bruised face to be broken."

The entire group laughed at this and Courtney joked herself saying. "Can't have that."

Shortly after Courtney said that the waitress came with their orders and started giving them their food until only Duncan's order remained. And since he was not there when she asked for the order the waitress asked. "Who ordered the… belgon waffle combo?"

Duncan raised his hand and said. "Right here."

The waitress then sets down the food in front of him and then looks at his face. Slightly horrified she asks bluntly. "What happened to your face?"

Her question made all the girls a bit scared on what Duncan's answer would be and if the waitress would believe it. But to their relief Duncan remembered his cover story and answered. "I fell down some stairs and landed on my face."

The waitress then says. "Oh that had to hurt sorry about that."

"No problem darling." Duncan said with a smirk which made Courtney a little mad… ok down right peeved but none the less made the waitress blush and forget about the question she just asked.

The waitress then asked. "Hey have you guy's seen the news about the guy who beat up those rapists a few days ago?"

The girls a little uncomfortable at her question but Duncan answers. "Yeah we did."

"I'm just so glad that those monsters were finally taken out. I didn't feel safe alone at night because of them. And I gotta say I'm kinda glad that guy stabbed and pistol whipped that him. He deserved it."

Duncan noticing his friends getting nervous says. "Yeah it was a good thing those guys were taken care of. Now if you don't mind we'd like to eat our meals we gotta go somewhere later."

"Oh sorry, go on right ahead. Sorry to bother you." The waitress said before walking away.

Noticing that Courtney is shaking a bit Bridgette asks. "Are you ok Courtney?"

Courtney took a drink of her fresh Ihop hot chocolate and said. "Yeah I'm ok."

Seeing this curious Duncan asks. "Hey what's the deal with the whole hot chocolate thing?"

"When I was little, whenever I was scared my grandma would make me some and it just sort of stuck."

"Hmm ok, that's kind of cute." Duncan says which makes Courtney blush.

"Yep and now its your turn." Bridgette said to Duncan.

"Um what are you talking about?" Duncan asked the blonde member of the trio.

"Well since Courtney shared something about herself you should too."

Duncan chuckled at this and joked. "So I'm one of the girls now?"

"Come on Duncan it wouldn't hurt." Gwen said also curious about her new friend.

"Um ok, what do you want to know?"

Courtney asked. "Well, where you did you learn to fight so good?"

"Why do you want to know that?"

"We've seen you fight and beat up a lot of guys who are bigger and when you were outnumbered and when they had weapons. So how'd you learn that?"

"Hmm I did tell you that I came from a bad neighborhood and my parents made me take self-defense classes right?"

"Yeah."

"Well that's not the only place l learned how to fight. My parents forced me to go to military school when I was a kid."

"Why did they send you to military school?"

"My parents thought I had a bit of a discipline/ attitude problem... its military school is a little cheaper than regular school if you have a record." Duncan admitted while digging into his meal.

When he does Bridgette asks. "You had a record? You seem like the type."

Duncan proudly said. "Yeah I did and I was also a bit of a trouble maker. My dad was a hard ass and hated it."

Courtney then asks a question that Duncan wished that she didn't'. "What did you parents do for a living?"

Duncan being the experienced liar that he was knew that when dealing with someone who is actively in your life and already knows one of your most well kept secrets that it would be better to tell her most of the truth instead of a straight out lie Duncan answers. "They were cops."

This completely astonishes the group. Gwen then asks. "You came from a family of cops?"

"Yep."

Courtney then asks. "If you did than why are you doing the whole fight club thing?"

A bit annoyed at their constant questions at his life and knowing that if he kept telling the truth beyond this point it would not end well. So Duncan decided that now was a good time to lie. "Look just because my parents were cops that doesn't mean that they weren't poor. And they don't know and I want to keep it that way. But since you're asking about my parents why don't you tell me about yours."

Courtney answers. "My dad is a lawyer and my mom is a doctor."

Gwen answered. "My mom works at a catering company that delivers food supplies to the hospital that Bridgette's mom works at as a chef. And actually Courtney's dad works at the same hospital as one of their main attorneys."

"so that's how you all met, huh?" duncan asked a little surprised while stabbing his fork into some pancakes.

"yep, and we kinda all met at the hospital's bring your daughter to work day." Said Bridgette.

Duncan curious asks. "Um, ok. Hey I noticed that you two only talked about your mom's, should I even ask about your fathers?"

Bridgette answers him saying. "Its ok. Gwen's father died when she was a toddler and my dad… well I never knew him."

"Sorry to hear that." Duncan said sincerely.

"Its alright."

"It's fine, it's not your fault." Gwen said to Duncan. For a while the group spent their time just eating in silence enjoying their food. But of course something had to interrupt it. Courtney got a call on her work cell. She took it out of her pants pocket and answered it. "Hello? You want me to what? Yes sir. I'll do that sir. Yes sir. Good bye, sir."

She then put her phone away and said to the group. "Well I gotta go back to the main office building my boss wants me to work today for 'slacking off' the last couple days."

Courtney is pretty annoyed at the sudden development and her boss's insensitivity but begrudgingly says. "Sorry but I gotta go."

Gwen herself looked at her phone to check the time, "Yeah I gotta go too, you wanna give me a ride."

"Sure lets go." Courtney said leaving the famous restaurant, but not before leaving her share of the bill. After Courtney left and seeing Gwen fallow Bridgette asked. "Wait what about the food you didn't finish?"

Gwen answered. "Just put it in a to go bin, we'll eat them later."

Gwen then leaves through the exit of the restaurant leaving her blonde friend with Duncan who, while she may not admit it, was still quite intimidated by him. While trying very hard to focus on her food and praying to the 'please don't talk to me' gods Bridgette kept eating her food until Duncan asks. "Are you really going to put their food in to go bins and take them back to your dorm?"

Bridgette startled by him twitched but answered. "No they wouldn't eat them anyway."

"Alright and speaking of food, I've really wanted to do this since we got here." Duncan said right before he started chowing down or just shoving his order down his food hole.

Bridgette slightly disgusted at the sight said. "Hungry much?"

With food still in his mouth Duncan said. "Hey don't judge, all I've had to eat in the last 24 hours was half a sandwich and a flat can of soda. And my body is using every ounce of energy to try and heal itself, so yeah I'm hungry."

Bridgette realizing that Duncan must have been starving all morning says. "Oh, um, sorry."

"It's fine. How's your food?" duncan said after swallowing.

"It's ok."

"So what did you and Courtney talk about on the car ride here?"

Bridgette smiles at his question and answers. "Mostly I just teased her about almost sleeping with you last night."

"So you like teasing Courtney?" said taking another bite.

"Well yeah, but its not just that."

"Do I have to ask what you mean by that?"

"Courtney has never really done something like that with a guy before."

"That doesn't surprise me, she doesn't seem like the type." Duncan said taking a drink of hid orange juice.

"Courtney had a bad experience in high school with her ex-boyfriend Alejandro."

"What did he do?"

"He used her and manipulated her to not only do her homework for just him and his other girlfriend, but to also get him into clubs that were hard to get into that looked good for college."

"I see, what kind of person was this 'Al' guy?"

Bridgette didn't need to try very hard to remember the manipulative Latin prince. "He was swav and charming in a Latin sort of way and was bilingual and almost always got what he wanted. In fact when Gwen and I finally got Courtney to see that Al was using her, I'm pretty sure that it was the first time Al was told no."

"What did he do to Courtney?"

"Well like I said, he made her do not only his homework, but also that of his other girlfriend, the queen bitch of the high school we went to; Heather Young. And Courtney stored all of it on the lap top they shared. The first thing he did was destroy all her work, and that was several months' worth.

And you know how Courtney is the kind of girl that would be in a lot of clubs in high school? Well thanks to her, Al was in almost all of them, and shortly after their break up, certain evidence showed up showing how Courtney cheated getting the leader seats. And yes Courtney did have to be the boss in every club she was in. It was all fake but it didn't' matter and when she was kicked out, Al took her spot.

Bottom line Al sort of destroyed her social and academic life, and things only got worse when her parents found out."

"What happened when her parents found out?"

"When Courtney's homework was deleted by Al most of her classes dropped from A's to D's and F's and when her dad found out, well Courtney never told us but I think her dad hit her because she showed up with a bruise on her face the next day.

Ever since, Courtney has sort of sworn off men. Whenever she got into a relationship with some guy she would always break it off with them when things started getting serious and you, you are the one exception. Mostly because of all the craziness you've put her through, but still."

Duncan is silent for a minute letting what Bridgette said sink in. when it was all processed Duncan said. "That was quite the story."

"Yeah it is, but it's still just the first chapter, and if it's that bad it can only get better right?" Bridgette said optimistically.

Duncan said humorlessly. "Yeah… probably."

The silence between the two returned and so did Bridgette's fear of Duncan and since she by this point had eaten all of her food she had nothing to distract her from her friends intimidating boyfriend. Trying to break the uncomfortable silence Bridgette said. "Sooo, um…"

"From what you told me Al sounds like a cross between a trickster and a power broker." Duncan offhandedly said.

Bridgette confused at his statement asked. "What?"

"Alejandro has classic signs of a narcissist; specifically a trickster and a power broker.

"Still not following you."

"The trickster type is an extremely charming and social type of narcissism. These types can trick people into trusting them, but is very malicious and ruthless in these relationships. They feel a sense of entitlement and are without remorse. Meaning that they like to manipulate people, it's like a game to them that they hate to lose."

"Uh, what about the power broker one?"

"The power brokers; They will do almost anything to gain power, and rarely consider any consequences of their actions. They can be bullies, arrogant, and cold. By any means necessary is their motto. And whenever someone is in the way of they are immediately taken out."

Bridgette is nothing short of amazed by what Duncan said and all he knows. So she asked an obvious question. "How do you know all this?"

"I've been around guy's like them all my life. Even now the Dean, my boss, is a ragger narcissist- someone who is constantly inflating his own ego and whenever their ego is bruised they lash out at whoever did it and raggers are usually verbally and physically abusive."

"Was the Dean ever abusive to you?"

"When I first started working for him he tried but failed miserably. Whenever I did or said something that made him seem stupid he would try to be intimidating. Like grabbing me by my arm or shirt collar and yell at me. But it never worked.

I remember the first time I made him feel stupid he punched me and told me to shut my mouth and to do what he said."

"What did you do?" Bridgette asked, curious.

"Me? I didn't do anything, didn't have to. The dumb basted only hurt his hand. I mean how stupid can you be? I fight for a living and he thought he could intimidate me by hitting me? Really? So after he found out that just hitting me wouldn't work he sent a few of his guys to try and get me in line and the only thing that happened was that I sent those idiots to the hospital.

You should have seen the look on his face when he found out that he couldn't muscle me. He was so pissed." Duncan said the last part laughing and Bridgette started giggling.

"What happened after that?" Bridgette asked on the edge of her seat.

"Well after he found out he couldn't muscle out the ring he tried doing in the ring, but that didn't' work to well… well for him anyway." Duncan joked the last part, making not only himself laugh but also his blonde friend.

"And that's not even the best part. After what I did to the deal he had with Mayor Network the Dean probably ripped off his wig and tore it apart."

"He has a wig? How can you tell?"

"When the Dean first punched me, his wig fell off, that's how. And here's the kicker; the dean is completely bald and I'm talking shiny." Duncan said making them both laugh even harder.

After they were done laughing Duncan yawned, "I don't know about you, but I'm going to go back to my dorms and I'm going to sleep for the rest of the day."

"Yeah, I got things to take care of, too." Bridgette said as they both left the Ihop and got into Duncan's car. "Hey, are you okay to drive?" Bridgette asked as she buckled into the passenger seat.

"Yeah, I'm cool." Duncan confirmed.

"You sure? I'm okay to drive if you can't."

Duncan retorted. "No one drives this car, but me."

Bridgette held up her hands, "OK, OK. Typical guy." she mumbled.

They then drove out of the Ihop parking lot and drove back to the dorms. On the way there, Duncan asked. "So, what are the things you have to take care of? Aren't you usually with Geoff all the time?"

"Well yeah, but Geoff had this huge party last night and now I have to clean it up." Bridgette said with an annoyed expression.

"Do you usually clean up after their parties?"

"Yeah along with the pledges."

"Why are you cleaning up after them?"

Bridgette sighed and said. "Geoff's frat is full of womanizing and sexist assholes who come from rich families and people who have a lot of pull at the college. And if I clean up after them, they don't try to make my time here a living hell."

"What are you talking about?"

"Huh, when I first went to school here, back in my freshmen year when I was 18, the guy's at Geoff's frat told me to clean up after their parties. And when I refused, those A-holes came to where my class and dorms were and started whooping and hollering and screaming my name. It was so humiliating. And since those drunk idiots can't be touched, the teachers couldn't do anything about it. So they told me to do something or it would hurt my grade.

"What'd you do?"

"At first, I tried to put what they were doing in the school newspaper but no one really cared or those frat thugs made people not care."

"What about Geoff? Did you tell him about this?"

"Yeah I did. But when it first started, Geoff was just a pledge, so he had no real say it in it. But now that he's a full member, he can, but whenever I tell him it doesn't get through to him because he's so out of it. It's so frustrating."

"I'll bet. Hey from what you've told me, why don't you just break up with Geoff? If you did, the frat jackass's should leave you alone."

"I know, but I don't want to break up with Geoff, I love the guy. He's so nice and funny and so fun to be around with, not to mention that he's pretty good at other 'activities.'" Bridgette said the last part with a smile that made you think.

Duncan ignored her and asked. "So, you were saying."

"Oh right. So anyway, since that didn't work and no one else could do anything, I eventually had to start cleaning after them. But then, a few months later after one of their parties, one of those drunk idiots tried to get with me."

"Really, what happened?" Duncan asked, curious.

"I kicked him in the face and left. I bought pepper spray the next day. And when that idiot tried to touch me again, which was only a few days later, I sprayed him and he never tried it again. I kept it ever since."

"Damn girl, have you ever told Courtney and Gwen about this?"

"Yeah when it first started, but they couldn't really do anything about it."

"Maybe I can." Duncan suggested.

Bridgette burst out against it saying. "No no no no. I appreciate it Duncan, but no thanks, you can't really do anything either. A bruised scary guy like you around their frat, and after the whole news thing, there is no way they wouldn't try something. You can't risk it."

Duncan sighed and said. "You're right. What are you going to do?"

"I guess I'm just going to have to keep being their maid until I graduate. Its only two more years, I can do it."

Duncan at first, didn't say anything, just tried to process what his blonde friend had told him. He looked at her and noticed that she had the same dejected look as Gwen had on the ride to Ihop. Trying to cheer her up Duncan said. "So, you think I'm scary, huh?"

Bridgette flinched at his question and said. "What? No, no, ok maybe. But you can't really blame me after seeing you fight all those times."

Duncan laughed at this and parked his car in the dorm's parking lot. He then asks. "So, am I still scary?"

Bridgette, not wanting to open that can of worms, just pretended to look at her watch, "Oh look at the time." She opened the passenger door and climbed out of the car. Before she left, she said to Duncan through the open car window. "Hey, it was nice spending the morning with you, and I'm sorry your caught up with this whole mess. Courtney's lucky to have you. You're a good guy. Later."

After Bridgette left, Duncan thought in his head about what she said about him; 'you're a good guy.' He thought about how if she only knew the truth about him, about who he used to be a few years ago, and how she would have called him something completely different. And how she's sorry about him in 'this whole mess' as she calls it. But Duncan thinks that it's what he deserves after what he did, after what he had to do to just survive.

Duncan left his car and walked back to his dorm to get some much needed rest. When he makes it to his room, he thinks about his morning with the girls and how 'interesting' it was. He thinks about Gwen and Bridgette's problems and while a few years ago he wouldn't have cared, hell he'd probably want to get a piece of it, but he was a different person now and he owed them a favor for keeping his secret and how she's sorry about him in the 'whole mess' as she calls it, that after what he's done he deserves it.

Just before he goes to sleep he says. "I guess I know what I'm doing tomorrow."

_Well that's it for this chapter and I know I said that I was putting this on hiatus but that was just something I did to buy myself time because a few weeks ago I knew that I wouldn't have enough time to work on it so I pulled that little stunt._

_Now on to clearing a few things up; when Bridgette asked if Duncan was 'that kind of special' she meant if Duncan was 'the one' you know marriage material. It was just meant as a joke, hope you like it._

_Now for Lovepup33 I have only one thing to say to you; your flattering I'm flattered. It's always nice to get responses for my work and yours was defiantly one of the best and you got your wish. Please read and review._

Oh and here was the only Pegasus quote I could find in under 5 minutes.

•They swayed about upon a rocking horse, And thought it Pegasus.

-John Keats

'Sleep and Poetry', l.186^7.


	17. Bright Green Shadow

_Hello everybody, look last chapter was intended as calm after the storm thing with duncan becoming part of the group instead of just an objective for the group to defend, protect, and investigate. So yes he has made friends now with Courtney's friends and no he did not have any real friends before… well none he would spend any time with outside of the club. You know the' lets grab a beer' kind of friend. He couldn't afford to have any in the event that they could be used against him, or would betray his secret but now he's sort of stuck with them. But to be honest he's ok with it because since he saved Courtney's life he knows that they won't betray his secret and yeah he was getting a bit lonely, well he would have if wasn't in a constant state of sleep deprivation and in a constant state of physical abuse._

_Also in the last chapter I gave away substantial amounts of insight into Duncan's past, which by the way is a major theme in this story as almost a complete mystery that will gradually be revealed piece by piece. And when I did show that insight I also showed insight into Gwen and Bridgette's lives, and when I did it actually showed that they are not all sunshine and puppies and are actually not all that good, with Bridgette's forced servitude and Gwen's abusive relationship, if anything Courtney's relationship with duncan is actually the most stable, doesn't that scare you?_

_One last thing you should know is that recently I have been thinking things and then forgetting them just before I wrote them down or say them. It is extremely frustrating and has slowed down my progress considerably, which leads to my next and most used quote; procrastination's a bitch. _

_This has been rewritten, I own nothing enjoy._

**DESPERATION**

**Chapter 17- Bright Green Shadow**

_There is a young man who looked barely out of high school or early collage inside of a large overly decorated office with pictures of sport stars and degrees on the wall behind a desk with bookshelves at the sides, at the front of the office were barred windows and a busted open door. Through the barred windows and the door one could see men in orange jump suits attack and being attacked by armed police. The guards were killing prisoners with their rifles and shot guns while the prisoners fought back against the guards and each other with their own makeshift weapons and the guns from the guards they killed._

_In the office there was an elderly man cowering in a corner near his desk trying to hid from the inmates until order had been restored._

_The young man is in between the aged man and one of the rioting prisoners; the prisoner was a large over weight man with a shaved head who appeared to be in his mid 30's. The prisoner came at the young man with his shiv and tried to stab him. The young man grabbed his hand that had the shiv, pulled the prisoner toward himself until the prisoners hand was past him. The young man then pushed himself against the prisoners arm until they were both against the wall._

"_fuck you!" the prisoner said to the young man as he twisted the prisoners arm until he dropped the weapon. After he does the young man lets go of the prisoners arm and then hits him in the nose with his elbow making him step back a few feet disorientated. The young man then turns around to try and attack the prisoner but the prisoner does so first by taking a punch at the young man with his right hand. The young man blocks it with his left hand on his inside. The young man then kicks the prisoners left knee with his right leg on his outside making him drop to his knees, the young man then jabs the prisoner open handed in the throat as hard as he could. _

_The prisoner makes a choking noise and starts shaking and chocking, but without thinking the young man slams the prisoner's head down on the edge of the desk in the office. The prisoner drops down on the floor, unmoving, and soon a small pool of a red liquid starts oozing out of the side of the prisoner's head._

_The young man is too high on adrenalin to think about the consequences of his actions, of what he had just done to this man, this harden criminal, but a man none the less. The young man then looks around the office to try to find the old man that was cowering in fear during the fight. The young man is unable to find him from where was but knows there is only one real hiding spot so he looks behind the desk and found him under the desk holding his knees against his chest trying his best to stay quiet._

_The old man is in shock from what is happening in the prison, and what the young man just did to a fellow inmate just a few feet away. Annoyed at the older man's lack of courage he said. "Christ warden! You are the most pathetic guy I have ever met, and that's a lot of people."_

_The older man doesn't do anything except shake a bit more under his desk like a scared child during a thunderstorm or some other analogy you would use to describe a complete coward. But knowing he still needed him the young man kneels to the older man's level and I asks. "hey warden, WARDEN you alright?"_

_The old man does nothing; he is still too shocked to even know the young man is there. So the younger man asks again. "HEY, Warden wake up."_

_He buries his head further into his knees and said to the young man. "go away."_

_Extremely annoyed by the older man the young man says. "aw screw it."_

_The younger man then grabs the older man by his shirt collar and pulls him out from under the desk and the older man starts kicking and screaming. Knowing that he does not have time or luxury to coddle the older man, the young man slaps the old man across the face, which makes the older man stop. The younger man then says right to the older one's face. "knock it off you…"_

"_What the hell?!"_

_The younger man then turns around to see the person who asked him that. When he does he sees a fairly tall, muscular Caucasian man with a shaved head and is covered in swastikas and other Arian ink. He has two other prisoners behind him who look equally as terrifying with their own swastikas and shaved heads._

_Leader does not say anything at first so he looks around the office and sees the other inmate who the young man took care of. The leader then asks the young man. "what happened here? Did you do this?"_

_The younger man lets go of the warden who then crawls back under his desk. "He got in my way."_

"_Damn kid, if you wanted in on killing the warden all you had to do was ask and I would have happily let you in on it."_

"_I'm actually here to save his sorry ass."_

_Visibly surprised the leader asks. "Why would you do that?"_

"_if I do what do you think the warden will do in return?" the young man asks the leader._

_The leader laughs at this and asks the young man. "do you really believe that? The warden is a liar and as much as a psycho as I am."_

"_I don't really have a choice now do I? After what I did to Cantel and the other guys who worked for you who got in my way. I've got nothing to lose."_

"_its not too late. If you get out of the way and help me, I'll forget everything you did to my guy's." _

_The young man then looks at the older man who like before has buried his head in his knees, the younger man then looks back at the leader skin head who is giving the younger man an angry look. The young man then says. "I'll take my chances."_

_The leader laughs at the young man again and says. "you got balls kid, and just for that, as a sign of respect I'll kill you myself."_

_The leader then pulls out his own shiv from his pocket and charges at the young man._

_BEEP! BEEP! BEEEEEP!_

I wake up immediately from the alarm in a cold sweat and sit up in my bed. " Holy shit! Fucking Christ, Mary of joseph I hate that dream."

I then rub my face with my hands trying to wake up. I then look at the alarm clock that is still going off; it says 5:30 Am. I then shut it off.

"god dammit." I grunt as I get out of the bed and onto the floor. I then start doing push-ups. Christ almighty that is the third time this week I've had that dream. Whatever at least it's getting better. I've had that dream every night since that horrible day. I have no idea why but thank god its stopping.

After about so many pushups I stop and sit back down on my bed. "hopefully the dream will stop so can finally put the past behind me."

I then look back at the clock and it says its 5:38. "time to get to work."

I get dressed and head to the kitchen and eat some granola bars with an ultra-protein shake. After I am done eating I head back to the bath room with a makeup kit I bought for my 'sister' a few months ago.

The makeup is both smear proof and water proof and the only way to get it off is from a mix of salt water and iodine. I paid top dollar for this stuff in case I needed a disguise. Today is the first day that I do, it better be worth the cash.

I use some of it to cover up the bruises on my face and wherever else they would be visible. I then use it to make a large fake scar running down my left cheek and into my neck. You always want one distinguishing mark to distract people from your face. You would be amazed at how many criminals actually get away with crimes by putting on fake scars and then doing the crimes. Since the witnesses always focus on the facial scars they never actually get a good look at your face. In fact the only reason they actually get caught is because they don't know how to keep their mouths shut and brag to people on how they got away with it. Dumbass's .

I then leave my dorm and go to my car. When I do I open up the trunk and then the secret compartment at the side of it behind the tail light. Inside of the compartment are a number of fake license plates. "oh this one should be perfect."

I take out the fake and then I switch it with my real one. The fake says 'IPFREELY'.

"classic."

I then put the real plate in the other compartment at the other end of the trunk behind the other tail light. I then drive off to the neighborhood campus frat.

I park the car in side of the frats parking lot which by the way was hard to find a good spot. All the cars were taking up more than one spot because of how bad they were parked. Some of them had shit written on them along with toilet paper and empty plastic cups.

I get out of my car and make as little noise as I can, though its not really needed since these guys party from sundown to four in the morning, they should be all out cold.

I then get in by opening a window that is right next to the bar inside. They always keep it easily accessible incase the cops come by and they need an escape route. I've been keeping an eye on these idiots from when I first came here in case any of them became a problem.

They haven't yet but like I said to the mayor, it never hurts to have insurance. These frat parties almost every night and day, and whenever I've had the time I've been watching them to collect both information and dirt.

Most of them go all-night drinking heavily and smoking pot and sometimes other more heavy drugs, in fact some of these guys have gone away on rape charges. I wouldn't be surprised if any of these idiots tonight had some poor girls drugged up and in their bed or even just the floors.

I knew guys like them during my 'extended detention periods' that were there because they were frat guys who got sent away on rape, drug, and sometimes even attempted murder. But that's not really fair to these idiots. The place that I was in was only for the worst kinds of criminals, though I still wouldn't be surprised.

Most crimes done by frat guys were just drunk and disorderlies, and sometimes noise complaints. The main reason they do it is because they either don't think about the consequences or just do it because they think they can get away with it.

But eventually they go too far and they screw up or someone does something that 'makes' them screw up; i.e what I'm doing to them this morning.

When I get into the frat house I see people drunk and passed out on the floor, the furniture, and the wall of all places. Lucky bastards.

I then walk past the bath room and I smell a very familure scent. I open it and I see some idiot passed out and next to the toilet with a bong in his lap. Sweet that's just what I need. I put on my gloves and take the bond from the guy.

I then close the door to the bath room and continue my search. I've always hated frat guys, still do. Its because when these idiots have gotten caught all they get is a slap on the wrist but me. When I got caught I got sent to prison and juvie which makes me all the more happy to do this.

When I watched the parties of the frat I noticed who partied the hardest and who didn't'. Who were the drug guy's and who weren't and who slept with the most chicks and who hardly ever got laid. I just never came back the next day to check on who cleaned up. That's why I was so surprised about Bridgette cleaning up after those rich daddies boys.

But the guy who came up the most was Geoff. He was the life of the party; he did the most drinking, the most pot. But what surprised me the most, or at all, was that he only had sex with Bridgette. Ya gotta respect the guy for that, especially how easy it would have been for him to just sleep with some fluzey when he's fucked up. But he didn't, you gotta give him props for that.

I don't really wanna do this, Geoff's a nice enough guy and he never crossed me. But I owe Bridgette a favor for her keeping my secret, and taking down the collage frat is my idea of a good time. I then look around for Geoff.

I see him next to a keg of all places and by the looks of it he drank the whole thing. Damn. I then look around for the last thing I need for my plan to work. And I see it; next to the stairs. A smoke alarm, and by the look of it its been deactivated.

That's fine. I then grab Geoff by his shirt collar and drag him until he is laying on the stairs right under the alarm. I then put the bong in his hands and then turn on the alarm. After I do that I light the bong and head to the front door.

"oh dude I am so messed up right now. What are you doing?" Geoff asks me totally shit faced.

I turn back to the guy and say. "Nothing dude."

Geoff gets a weird look on his face and asks me. "dude what happened to your face?"

Fake scar works, knew it would. "cut myself shaving. Look man I gotta go later."

"later dude! WOOO!" Geoff said right as the alarm went off. I don't care these people are still out cold from the party last night. They don't even notice.

"who the hell are you?" some guy asks me just as I make it to the front door.

I'm too short on time to talk to this guy so I just try to leave but the guy gets up from where he was sitting grabs my arm and asks again. "Who the fuck are you?"

I pull my arm free and I grab him by the shoulders and punch him right in the stomach, I then push him back and he lands on his back holding stomach. I then run like a mother but when I do I still manage to hear they guy yell at me. "What the hell!"

I make it to the parking lot and drive off in my car. I can see in my rear view mirror that the same guy that I punched is taking a pick or vid of my car with his phone. Hope the cops like looking for a car with an IPFREELY plate and a driver with a fake scar.

I'm driving down the road and when I do I see fire trucks and police cars behind them heading for the frat. "Hope you guys like the Monday morning bell ha!"

XXX

A few hours later I'm in a crowd of people outside of the frat behind a yellow tape fence. The fire trucks are still there for some reason but the police are taking the frat guys to their squad cars. Some of the frat boys scream that they didn't do anything, some are trying to bargain with the cops with either money, drugs or, girls. Wow that's gonna look good at court. Others are calling the cops pigs and others are just too shit faced to even know whats going on.

The cops have got plenty of evidence on these idiots. From the amount of time it took for the cops to come after the alarm was set off the frat guys had no time to clean up and hide their pot. Some of the younger guy's aren't even legal to drink yet.

I'm kinda disappointed that they won't get sent to prison. Sure they'll go to county jail, but only for a few hours until their daddies bail them out. After that they'll be put on probation. That means no parties and no drugs for months. So Bridgette's problem is no longer an issue.

"wow dude, whats going on? Where are you taking me?" Geoff asked as the cop leads him out of the frat house in cuffs to his car.

When he's out in the yard of the frat house he announces. "hey this is the guy who lit the bong under the fire alarm."

The cops are amazed at this and the cop who is escorting Geoff says. "yeah and not too smart on your part buddy."

No not on his part, on my part 'buddy.' But whatever its still funny as hell. "sorry Geoff but I owed Bridgette and maybe you could use some time away from drugs and parties. It might be good for you."

"you fucking pigs your arresting the wrong guys! Were innocent! We were set up! They guy with the scar did it!" said the guy I kneed earlier kicking and screaming as a cop pulled him out of the frat house.

The cop just ignores him and keeps dragging him to his car. Desperate the guy says. "look I got the guys license plate on my phone."

I'm not worried, because after I parked my car a good half mile away I cleaned the fake license plate of any prints and tossed it in the garbage, and put the another fake one on.

"you have the right to remain silent, and for god sakes start using it. I'll look at it down at the station." The cop said the guy.

When they get to the s quad car the cop opens the back door that also had Geoff inside of it and tries to push him inside of it. But before he does they guy sees me in the crowd and says frantically. "hey there he is! The guy in the hoodie with the scar! With the fucking scar you pigs!"

He then gets slammed in the car with Geoff and the cop says "save it buddy."

I wasn't worried. Cops are told by their suspects that people set them up so much and that the they didn't do it so many times that even if its true the police don't care and will ignore them until they start the actual investigation later. And by that time my fake scar and whatever evidence they had will be gone.

I then leave the crowd and head back to my car. After about a city block on my walk I make a call to someone I wish I didn't have to. "Who is this?"

"its me duncan."

"why the hell are you calling me so early in the morning."

I then check the time and say. "dude it's like 8, it's not that early."

"it is for me its break, I'm not supposed to be awake until like noon."

"whatever, what are you up to now?"

"well now that I'm up not much. Why do you ask?"

"do you have your lap top with you?"

"who do you think you talking to? What do you need?"

"can you disable the security cameras at and around J.P Riders place?"

"is that the place that actually still uses real musicians?"

"uh yeah."

"that place is so outdated." Harold says in his usual condescending way.

"whatever can you do it?"

"probably why though?"

"I've got some business to take care of."

"I'm not going to cover you doing a crime."

"I won't be doing anything illegal. I'm just going to stop a psychopath from eventually killing someone we know."

"uhmmm." Harold says coming up with nothing else to say.

"Harold wake up man!"

"sorry its just not something you usually hear first thing in the morning. And yeah I'll do it but I need help with something."

"what is it?"

"I have another date with lashana and I have no idea what to do."

"what do you want from me?"

"do you have any ideas?"

"why would you think I have any ideas?"

"because you snagged a hottie like courtney so I can only assume that you know where to take a girl on a date. And while courtney isn't as hot as lashana she's close enough to still be in the same ball park."

If I didn't need this guy I would shove that cell of his down his throat. "ok fine but only if you help first."

"ok that's cool but its gonna take some time, about a few hours maybe two."

"why will it take so long"

"hey this isn't like tracking you and hacking into the campus's network. This is different, not only will I have to hack into the stores network but I'll also have to hack into the neighboring stores and business's and the street surveillance system, which is run by the city. And if I don't do this right someone will catch on and if that happens I'll have the cops kicking down my door in like 10 minutes, while they'll have a trap set for you where you are."

Reluctantly I say. "understood, call back when you're done."

"ok later man." He says to me. I hang up right after.

"time to go to get some coffee. The second part of today is going to be a bitch."

XXX

I'm sitting at an outside table of another café across from the music joint drinking some coffee and pretending to read a newspaper. I've been here since I called Harold over an hour ago and ever since I've been watching whats been going on inside of 'J.P Riders'. More specifically I've been watching Trent for more than an hour.

J.P Riders is a karaoke bar/ café which plays bands on the weekends. Another thing that makes it unique is that it has glass walls for three of its four sides, so you can see everything that's going on inside of it. Like what the band inside of it is doing or the lead guitarist is doing.

I showed up around 8:10 and Trent's band showed up shortly after and ever since then they've been playing their god awful music. it's the standard armature hippie mixed with a little bit of creed and green day. And throughout the entire time whenever he wasn't playing music with his band he was with some random chick. Sometimes he was just flirting, sometimes he was making out with them, and when the band went on break for 20 minutes, he took one of the girls into the music joints bathroom for half of the break.

What is it with chicks and musicians? I'm a genius and I still can't figure it out. Bikers I can understand why, the whole danger thing, but the weird dude with the guitar not so much.

"um excuse me sir, do you need anything more?" asked a waiter of the café I was using to stake out the one across the street.

"uh no I'm fine." I say to him putting down my paper. He then looks at my face and see's my fake scar which seems to scar him a bit because he loses his fake smile and backs away a bit.

"very well sir." He said a little too quick and scampers off back inside. Crap he's gonna call the cops on me soon, I gotta rap this up. I take out my phone and call Harold.

"hey dude how long til you're ready?"

"hey it takes time your gonna have to wait, you can't rush genius. Gosh!"

"yeah I get that but the shop I'm staying at is getting impatient."

"well hold on it will be done soon. Hey have you heard about what happened at the fraternity this morning?

I smirk and lie. "I heard something happened but I don't know what."

"the whole frat has been arrested and have been sent to the county jail."

"really didn't see that coming." I said sarcastically.

"you don't sound too surprised."

"those drunk pot headed daddies boys were bound to be arrested sooner or later. I'm actually surprised that they didn't get arrested sooner."

"um ok… I'll call back when its done." Harold says just before he signs off.

I put my phone back into my pocket. If your wondering why I don't like frat guys its because, well have I mentioned that my dad and family were cops right? well they frequently told me of how they had to deal with those idiots who thought they could get away with anything, and did with just a slap on the wrist. While I did less stuff and still got thrown in prison because of it. So yeah I'm a little biased.

I then look at my phone again to check the time. It says its 10:30, wow Harold sure is going as fast as the speed of light.

If you're wondering why I don't do the hacking myself it's because while I can do that and I have before, it's because the redheaded runt is better than me. And yes while I'm good, he's better. I don't have his insane amount of talent. It would have taken me half a day for me to hack into the streets security cameras along with the one's inside of the club. And this guy said it'd be done in a few hours and from the fact that he hacked into the pentagon I believe him. I'm just joking about the pentagon thing, I'm not sure if he actually did it he just bragged that he did on facebook.

My phone starts vibrating I take it out of my pocket and answer it. "Hey its done, all the security camera's are on a continuas loop for the next half hour. "

"nice job, I'll help with your lashawa problem later."

"LASHANA, and I need your help on where to take her on a date. I can't think of anything."

"sorry I can't help you right now. I'm on the clock, I'll help when I can."

"alright fine. Good luck stopping whoever from killing whoever else." He said as he hung up.

I then leave the table and walk across the street into J.P Riders. When I get in there the band is still playing. Some of the people actually seem into it, weird people. Others are just talking to each other and enjoying their food. There are four guys in the band playing. Trent is the lead guitarist, two base players and a drummer.

I notice that the girl at the front counter is giving googily eyes at Trent. I then look at her name tag, it reads 'Jeannette P. Rider'. "well I guess I just found the owner. Time to make some noise and ruin some peoples day." I said happily as I walk to the counter.

"hey can I get a sprite?" I say to the distracted owner.

She turns to me confused and says. "huh, oh right, um right away."

She leaves and comes back a moment later with a can of sprite. "here you go."

She then hands me the drink. I then turn to the band and ask. "hey who's the band?"

In a dreamily fan girls like state she says. "the nine knights."

"oh well they're good. How long will they be playing here?"

"oh until Wednesday when the Vancouver university break is over."

"ok cool. Hey who's that guy?" I asked pointing to Trent.

She says in full fan girl mode. "He's Trent and he's the front man of the group."

When she says this Trent gives a wink at the girls in front of the stage, who actually seem to like it. What the hell? Whatever I then point to the girls at the front of the stage and say. "those two girls seem to be into him."

Jeannette seems to be a little pissed at my comment and says. "yeah but they better keep away from him."

"you seem a bit concerned about his love life." I say to her trying not to smirk.

"if everything works out I'll be his love life." She says confidently to me.

"what makes you say that?" I ask her.

"me and him hit it off last night." She said looking right at Trent.

"cool though I really hope his girlfriend is ok with him having a second girlfriend, or third or how many others he has." I say nonchalantly while looking indifferently at the god awful band.

"what the hell are you talking about?" she says completely shocked and looking right at me.

I turn back to her and say. "oh, he didn't tell you. He's got a girlfriend. You might know her; teal hair, wears combat boots. Any of this ring'n a bell?"

She then blurts out. "that Goth girl was his girlfriend?!"

"yep and so is that girl over there that he made out with when he first showed up this morning while his band set up the equipment. And so was that girl over there that he took into your place's bathroom for 10 minutes during the bands break."

After I say that she just stairs at me for a few moments trying to process everything I told her. She looks right at Trent and is visibly angry and starts shaking a bit. And it takes me everything I have not to smirk at this. She then storms out from behind the counter and on to the stage in front of the band. She then announces to everybody. "I'm sorry everybody, but the band will no longer be playing here."

"you can't do that you booked us until Wednesday." Said Trent to the owner.

Super pissed the girl said. "not anymore. Get off my stage and out of my place!"

"oh come on baby." Trent said trying to give her puppy dog eye's.

She screams. "GET OUT BEFORE I CALL THE COPS!"

Trent and his band immediately pick up as much as their equipment as they can and charged for the back door they came in before. And I start laughing. Holy shit it is so fucking funny. Oh god.

After her outburst she comes back to behind the counter and lays her head down on her hand against the counter and says after word. "fucking jerk."

I can't help but feel sorry for the girl, its not her fault that she fell for an ass so I say to her. "hope you didn't pay him in advance."

"no I didn't. They get paid at the end of the day."

"so he just played the morning for free? Nice." I joke which makes her laugh a little bit.

"yeah." She says back. I then look at my phone. I'm running out of time.

"hey I gotta go, piece of advice; don't get involved with someone who works at your place of business. It never works out."

"I know, I just couldn't help myself. He was just so damn cute with that guitar."

What the hell is wrong with fan girls. I think as I shake my head. I then go toward the exit but I am stopped when she asks. "you have to go back to your girlfriend?"

I turn back to her and say. "sort of."

"she's lucky to have a guy like you." She says in an almost envious tone.

"That's what her friends think."

"is she fun to be with? Because if she isn't I am." She said giving me a flirtish look.

God that's funny, oh how I wish I was 18 again and didn't know Courtney, this chicks hot. Oh well. "yeah she is, its what I like about her. It's the in your face and do what I say or I'll yell at you thing I could live without. But hey it's all part of the package."

I then leave before she has a chance to try and flirt with me more. The owner was a bit clingy and was looking for a rebound guy, sorry but can't really deal with that now. A few years ago I would have exploited her and got free food and drinks from her and yeah I probably would have banged her. I kinda miss those days but its not who I am now, for a good reason.

Besides I'm running out of time. I then go to the parking lot that is behind the place. Its mostly abandoned with just trent's band putting their equipment into their van. I hide behind one of the cars in the lot so they don't see me too early.

After all their stuff is loaded into the van Trent tries to get in but is pushed out by one of his band mates, the drummer I think. "nah uh man, you costed us a great gig. You walking home."

"come on man." Trent pleaded.

"fuck off, if you do shit like that again your out of the band!" the drummer says to him. He then closes the back door of the van and then drives off.

"FUCK YOU!" Trent screams back at them and kicks one of the tires of the car that he is next to. Ok he's alone perfect. I get out of hiding from behind the cars and walk up to Trent. He doesn't notice me. When I'm a good ten feet away from him I say. "I saw what happened in the club; kicked out for no reason and now your band mates abandon you, that sucks."

Trent sighs and leans against one of the cars and says. "I didn't see you in the club. You a fan?"

"it could have all been avoided if you weren't a cheating douchebag." I say walking up to him.

"what… what are you talking about?"

"I'm the one who told the owner how you made out with that girl this morning and that other girl you took to the bathroom with you."

He doesn't say anything at first but is visibly pissed. He then blurts out. "what! Why the hell did you do that? What did I ever do to you? You ruined a perfectly good gig for me."

"I'm a friend of Gwen's and she knows what you've been doing."

Trent smiles at this and scoffs at me. "so she sent you? Knew she didn't have the balls to confront me herself."

After he says that he comes right up to me and sticks his right index finger in my face and says threateningly. "you go and tell that bitch that I can do whatever I want with whoever I want and there is nothing she can do. Because I own her. You got that?"

I grab his finger and twist it painfully to his right. Trent bends down from the pain. "No I don't 'got' that."

I then grab him by his shirt collar with my left hand and pin him against a car. "and you don't own Gwen. She doesn't even know I'm here and if you ever hurt her I'll break all your fingers and then we'll see how well you can play your guitar."

I then shove Trent down on the ground. He lands on his chest but picks himself back up but still sits there on his side. "I knew guys like you; guys who thought women were property that can be owned and think their tuff guys who can get to do anything they want to women and get away with it. Sometimes they were tuff guys, but you, not so much. You're just a pussy with control issues."

After I say that Trent gets back up and tries to tackle me. He pushes me maybe a foot back. I then grab him by his shoulders and shove him against the car much harder this time. He hits the car back first. It knocks the wind out of him. But he does the stupid thing and gets back up and punches me in the face.

I barely feel it. Compared to the guys who I fight, who are usually bigger than me, his punch felt much more like a soft push.

After he punched me Trent cries out in pain and grabs his hand. I then punch him fairly hard in his stomach and shove him on the ground again. Only this time instead of getting back up he crawls into the fetal position and insults me. "you son of a bitch."

"now you are going to break it off with gwen and never see her again."

I then kneel down to make a better impression and to intimidate him further. I then say. "And you will never mention me to her and this never happened."

Coughing from my punch to his stomach he says to me. "Fuck you."

Ok plan intimidate with words didn't work, time for plan B. I grab his shirt collar to pull him up and get him on his feet and pin him against a car. I then grab one of his writs and twist it behind is back, turn him around, shove him against a car front first and pull his arm up toward his shoulder. I've been in this hold many times and let me tell you it hurts like a bitch and if done wrong it could permanently damage his arm. Lucky for him I know how to do it right.

"ARE YOU GOING TO DO IT?" I ask him.

"Please, please stop. It hurts." He pleas like the pansy he is.

"Are you going to break up with Gwen?"

"Yes."

"Will you ever meet with Gwen again?"

"No." his says and I immediately push his arm upward causing him more pain. "I mean yes."

"why are you gonna see her again?" I ask him.

Just barely holding back tears of pain he says." I- I don't know."

"you're gonna do it so you can break up with her you dumb prick! Your gonna take her to her favorite restaurant, pay for her meal, and then say you wanna break up or see other people or whatever, and then you will leave without saying a word. You 'got' that?" I ask him. Its always good to make them think. It gets the message across better.

"ok, ok. Just let me go, please."

"Did this conversation ever happen?"

"No."

"Good man." I say to him before I let him go. He drops to the ground again and holds his arm and crawls back into the fetal position, he then starts crying and asks me. "why are you doing this? What you want to be with her?"

He's not worth answering so I just leave him there and walk off to find my own car that I stashed at a different parking lot, leaving Trent there crying like the baby he is in the fetal position holding his arm like a damn rattle.

After I leave the block I look at my phone which is counting down .1. "just in time."

I then make walk to the parking lot that has my car and I drive back to my dorm.

XXX

I pull into the dorms parking lot and look for a space. When I do I feel my phone vibrate and I answer it. "hey."

"how did it go?" asked Harold.

"The problem has been taken care of."

"that's good but, uh have you thought about my problem?"

"what about your problem?" I say absent mindedly while I park into a space forgetting about what he asked me to do so I could focus on my driving.

"MY PROBLEM WITH LASHANA!" Harold screams back over the phone.

"I know, relax. I'll call back when I think of something ok. I haven't thought of anything yet."

"alright fine but do it soon, GOSH!"

"I will." I say to him as I hang up the phone and get out of the car. I then walk to the trunk of my car, open it and switch the fake plate for the real one. I then go back into the building and to my dorm.

When I get to my dorm I go to the kitchen and then look at my phone for the time. It says its almost 11:00 AM. I then look at my reflection in my phone and see that I still have the fake scar. Crap I gotta get that off as soon as possible before someone sees me.

I go to my bathroom and look under the sink and I find the makeup bag. I then find the spray that has the iodine and salt and spay myself with it to get the fake scar off and the other makeup I used to cover up my bruises. I then whip it off with a wash cloth I had on the sink.

I then look at the mirror and I sorta miss the fake scar. It kinda grew on me; I should have used it years ago. As I have this thought I look past my reflection and see the shower behind me. Crap how long has it been since I took a shower?

Yesterday I spent the morning with the girls and the rest of the day sleeping, the day before that I was a live practice dummy for the med students, the day before that… Holy crap I haven't showered since I was at the hospital after the dean tazed me.

Jesus I must smell like a dead rat. I then take off my clothes and jump in to take a much needed shower.

XXX

"God I needed that." I say as I get out of the shower and rap a towel around my waist. I then look at the mirror and wipe off the condensation to see that most of my scars have healed up nicely; with only a few splotches of dark yellow left.

I hear someone knocking at my door. Who the hell is that? I check my pants pocket for my phone but I don't find it. Oh yeah I left it back in the kitchen because Harold kept texting me. The person at the door knocks again.

"hold on I'm coming." I announce to whoever is at the door. I then walk over to my front door and check the sight and see that its courtney. Why the hell is she here.

She bangs on the door again and says impatiently. "open the door duncan, let me in."

"ah what the heck?" I ask out loud as I open the door for her.

"finally. What took you so long? I've been callin…" she complains to me but stops herself when she sees that I'm dripping wet, and naked with nothing but a towel on. She says nothing for a few seconds just staring at my bear torso. Hey why not let her enjoy the show, look all you want babe.

I then flex my abs and my six pack and ask her while gesturing to myself. "like what you see princess?"

She blushes but the scoffs and says. "get serious duncan."

"whatever you say princess, come on in. " I say to her smirking. She ignores me and walks in.

"you were saying something about you calling me earlier, and aren't you working today."

"I only had a half day and I've been calling you for the last 20 minutes." she said matter of factly as she went further into my dorm.

"sorry about that I was taking a much needed shower."

"for 20 minutes? Didn't think you were the long shower type."

"Normally I'm not but It was kinda needed. So what brings you over here?"

"What can't I spend time with my boyfriend?"

"Yeah you can but whenever you get any free time from work you usually spend it with Gwen and Bridgette."

"Bridgette's tearing Geoff a new one and I have no idea where Gwen is, she won't answer her phone."

That's not good, what is Gwen doing right now. No way Trent would do something to her. Not after what I did to him. I'll have to look into this later.

"are you alright duncan?" courtney asks me looking concerned.

"um yeah I was just thinking." I say as I see my phone vibrate on my kitchen counter. I go over to look who it is and wouldn't you know it; it was Harold again. He left me like 12 messages.

"oh god this guy is so annoying."

"Who are you talking about?"

I walk to my room to get dressed and while I do I answer. "its Harold he's been calling me asking for advice on what to do with lashana on a date."

"Why would he be asking you?"

"Well 'since I snatched you' he thinks I would know where to take a girl on a date."

"Well when you took me on that date a few days ago it was pretty fun. Except with you know the whole almost rape/ dying thing. Its actually kind of flattering. Did you think of anything yet?"

"Not yet and he also said that you're not as hot as lashana." I joke

"I'll let that go since he's talking about his own girlfriend."

I then walk out of my room fully dressed and ask. "well can you think of anything? Lashana's your friend."

Courtney is silent for a second and looks like she's thinking about it. She then says to me. "have you ever seen the magician's apprentice?"

"um, why are you asking me that?"

"this is kind of like the romance part of the story; the nerd has no idea where to take his hot crush on the date so he just uses his tech skills to make a show for her."

"that's actually not a bad idea thanks." I say to her as I take out my phone and text Harold Courtney's idea.

After I do I ask. "so what brings you over here court?"

"you already asked that."

"you never answered my question, just why you weren't with your friends."

Courtney sighs and says in a defeated tone. "you remember what you said to me a yesterday after I saw you all bruised up and I almost had that nervous breakdown? "

"Yeah." I said remembering that night.

She then walks into the mostly empty living room and says to me. "Remember about you teaching me how to fight."

I fallow her in. "Yeah I do, why do you wanna start now?"

"Yes" she said rather enthusiastically.

"Um ok but whats the rush? Why do you wanna start now?"

"Duncan do you even remember all the crap that's happened the last few days or even weeks? How long will it be until something happens again? I am not going to be a helpless damsel in distress again." she said the last part like she was making a promise to herself.

I've seen that look before, on victims of people I knew in prison. The look of vengeance mixed with tragedy. And when they get that look they won't stop when they set their mind on something. "ok then what do you wanna start on first?"

"um what?"

"me teaching you how to fight. what do you wanna start on first?"

"um I don't know, when you were learning what did you start with?"

"well at first they mostly made us run a lot and do a lot of pushups, and other body building work out stuff. But we don't have time for that so I'll just have to improvise."

"like how? what are you goin... " she tries to say but stops when I try to punch her face but I stop before I hit her.

She flinches when I do and demands. "what the HELL duncan?!"

I walk over to my kitchen counter and put on my fingerless gloves. Its just a habit I do when I'm working out or training. While I do I say. "your quick and you got good reflexes."

Dumbfounded courtney asks. "WHAT?"

I walk back into the bear living room and say. "I just tested your reflexes and response time."

Still a little confused she said. "oh, um how did I do?"

"you flinched before I got too close."

"oh." Courtney said in a sad yet confused tone.

"that's a good thing courtney. Now I'm going to check your response time for an attack you know is coming. You see someone come up to you angry and ready to start a fight, they take a swing at you. What do you do?"

"um, uh."

"too late they already hit you, hard. Now there are three things you do when someone is trying to hit you; you either block it." I then put my arm in the air and bend it making it look like I'm blocking something.

"Dodge." I jerk to the side.

"or you get hit." I don't do anything this time she knows what I'm talking about.

"now you know the third option pretty good but it's not really one you wanna use often. So I'm going to teach you how to block now ok."

"Ok"

"good now I'm going to try to punch in the eye. I want to see how you will react to it."

"Wha-" she tries to say but is cut off as I take a swing at her again, but I stop before I can hit her. When I swung Courtney put up her hands in front of her face. Well at least she did something.

After she realizes that I didn't hit her she sets down her hands and says angrily to me. "WOULD YOU PLEASE STOP THAT!"

"sorry princess I'll probably have to do it again in the future to test how you're doing. Oh and you suck at blocking."

"What are you talking about I blocked."

"no you put your hands up in front of your face, and at most that's softening the blow. And softening the blow is not blocking Courtney."

"uh." She tries to think of something to help her position but comes up with nothing, sorry court. There's really no excuse for that.

"Relax courtney I'll teach you how to really block. Now try to punch me in the face _slowly. _"

"um ok." She said just before she slowly tried to punch my face with her right hand. When she does I place my left arm against the inside of her forearm.

I then point to my arm and say. "See that, Right there? Where my arm is on the inside of your forearm. You can't go any further. That's how you block. Now I'm going to try to punch you again and you try to block it like I showed you ok?"

With and unsure face she answered. "um sure, hit me."

I chuckle at her joke and slowly try to punch her face. She does the same block that I did almost to perfection. "Good job, now I'm going to teach you a combo to not only block but to also fight back."

She smiles at this and asks. "good, but whats a combo?"

"A combo is a series of moves; either hitting or blocking, or dodging that someone uses to take down of your enemy. In fact the one I'm going to show you is sort of my signature combo."

"signature?"

"When someone does a move or combo most often it's called their signature. And now I'm going to teach you mine. it's pretty straightforward; someone tries to punch you and you block it like I showed you." I grab her wrist and put it in front of my face and I do the same block I did earlier.

"After that you kick them in the knee at the same side as the arm they used to try and hit you." I then gently kick her knee on the same side as her arm which makes her drop to her knees.

"see how you dropped to your knees after I did that? Then you either punch them in the face or you open your hand and jab them in the Adams apple." I say as I show her what I'm describing.

After I'm done saying and presenting it courtney looks up at me with a weird look; one I can't really describe. "you got a name for this?" she asks me.

"um no not really, I haven't really thought of a name for it I just sort of use it." I explain to her as I back up and let her stand.

She stands up and says. "So you use it and call it your signature whatever and you don't have a name for it."

I shrug and say. "it wasn't really that important to me."

"I think I saw you use it the first night I saw you fight. it's pretty brutal, and your pretty brutal when you use it."

"yeah well you gotta be brutal it you wanna win."

"you should name it 'duncan's dark side'." She said with a weird ass smile. And I don't know why but it makes me laugh.

"ok why should I name it my dark side?"

"because its like your unleashing your dark side when you use it."

I chuckle and shake my head, and after I do I say. "Court there are plenty of other more brutal moves than that."

"yeah but like you said it's your signature move so why not?"

"ok I'll call it my dark side, now are you ready to try it?" I asked with a smirk while shaking my head.

"yeah lets get started. Wait you said that I could do something other than punch the guy in the face; what was it?"

"oh I said that you could either punch him in the face or open you hand and jab him in the Adams apple." I explain to her and normally you don't do that but I know from experience that its possible.

"wouldn't that kill the guy?" she asked with a concerned look.

I say seriously to her. "only if you do it too hard. If you do it light enough; under 7 pounds it will just disorientate the enemy nothing else. But if you do it harder than that it is a possibility that they could die yes. That's why you only do it as a last resort and with whats happened to you recently I think you should know about it. Just in case. "

"oh ok." With an emotionless bordering on sad face.

"you wanna get started now?" I ask walking up to her again.

She enthusiastically said. "yeah let's get started."

"good now I'm going to try to punch you in the face again and you are going to try to do _my dark side_, cool?"

"yeah its cool."

"alright then here I go." I then slowly try to punch her again and she does it like I showed her. By blocking my arm, kicking my knee on the same side as my arm and then punching my nose but stops just before she hits.

"how did I do?" she asked me.

I get up and answer her. "you did good but remember that I was punching you slowly so it wasn't that hard. Now we're going to do it again only this time I'm going to do it faster than before. Ok?"

"ok." She said getting into position.

"good." I say to her as I try to punch her like before and like before she does the combo nicely. I get up and say. "nice job, again."

We do it again a little faster than last time. I then get up and say to her. "Again." we do it again like before but faster. We keep doing it over and over again each time I swing little faster and harder and each time she gets better at it and her confidence grows.

"Again."

_Well that's it for this chapter hope you liked it. Now I gotta ask why is duncan teaching courtney so popular? Compared to everything else that happened in this story I'm surprised that that is what is getting people's attention. _

_Now about duncan going behind Gwen and Bridgette's back and messing with Trent's and Geoff's lives. Its his way of repaying the girls for keeping his secret and to be honest its actually easier for him to be nice this way than to actually console the girls and talk to them. He likes being in the shadows and behind the scenes. It's part of his criminal nature. And about what happened at the beginning of the story, the part that's italicized, that's free to be interpreted however you want. Wouldn't want to ruin anything. Please read and review._

"let those who worship evil's might,

Beware my power, Green shadow's light"

-from me again.


	18. little by little

_Ok so last time I started out with a dream detailing a riot in a prison where a 'young man' was imprisoned at, and he tried to save the warden so he in gratitude he would do something for him in return but was interrupted by a 'leader' in the prison. And yes the leader was part of a racial hate group. In prison, gangs and other types of factions are mostly determined by race, and with duncan being white it was really the only thing I could think of. But yes you are free to interpret it as just a dream, or a memory it is your choice. And it's a choice because I don't want to give away any spoilers._

_Now last chapter ended with duncan teaching courtney self-defense, now while this chapter will start as a courtney and duncan centric chapt it will mostly be Gwen and duncan centric. Though it will mostly just focus on them opening up to each other becoming best friends and him slowly revealing parts of his past and who he really is as a person. Whether or not he is good or bad is still to be seen. As duncan has done many bad things in his life, many, and while he is trying to do good now he can revert to his older, less nice self any time. Hell maybe even worse. You can only push someone so far._

_What duncan did in the last chapter; setting up the entire collage frat, and making Geoff the fall guy, along with forcing Trent to break up with Gwen will have repercussions for him in this chapter and the future. _

_Now for the technical stuff, I have two things; 1. I found out I am better at writing in first so I've rewritten this entire chapter in first so I hope you like it. 2. I know this is off topic but I am in desperate need of a beta that will not take over a week to do chapter for me so anyone who thinks they're up to it please give me a PM, ok. Sweet. I own nothing, please read and review, enjoy. And just so you can tell me which point of view is better I'm going to write in third this time._

_This has been rewritten._

**DESPERATION**

**Chapter 18 – little by little **

Courtney and me were still in my mostly empty living room. Courtney had taken off her sweater vest and dress shirt and switched into one of my smaller T shirts and I switched into one of my stage muscle shirts that allowed maximum movement and protection, along with my fingerless gloves.

We've both had been here for hours with me teaching her how to block, dodge, dive, counter, and attack. Now we were at the sparring part my self-defense class with me taking swings and jabs at courtney, though I was holding back, and her blocking or dodging them. Hey she just started today.

Shortly into the self-defense class I learned that Courtney was a natural and a quick learner and was quite good. Courtney learned how to dodge and block fast and learned how to attack even faster, her aggressive nature gave her an affinity for that. And I gotta say I'm kinda proud, happy, and a little frightened at learning how good she was getting and how fast. I'm proud and happy that in my new student and that she would never need my help again in the future, but also a little scared because… well its courtney, enough said.

I took a swing at courtney with using my right at her head. Courtney bolted to the right and when she did she 'gently' kneed me in the abdomen. It briefly knocked the wind out of me. I took another jab at Courtney's stomach but courtney blocked it on the inside like I showed her how to do when we first started. Courtney then, not wanting to hurt me I'm guessing, pushed me in the chest making me back up a few feet.

Still trying regular thug moves I took one last swing at Courtney's head. Courtney again jerked to the same side as the arm I used, grabbed my wrist with one hand, used her other hand to push my elbow in an upward motion, making me have less control of that arm, twisted my arm to my back placing me in a lock I taught her only hours ago and then she pushed me against the wall that was next to us.

I found myself against the wall, back turned to courtney, who had me in a lock that was almost impossible to get out of. A little happy, and turned on, at this turn of events I say with a smirk. "looks like you got me."

With a sligh smile on her face courtney says. "Yep I do, so how am I doing?"

"Well your improving…" I then bends my knee behind Courtney's and pull her knees making her fall backward for a second pulling my arm with her as she falls. No longer in the hold, I turn to courtney grabs her wrists, pull her to and hold her against the same wall she had me in and say teasingly. "but you still have a lot to learn."

Courtney at first is amazed at what I did but then teasingly says back to me. "Well I'm glad my new teacher has some time now."

With a smirk I say back. "I'm glad too."

We are then silent for a moment and look at each other hard but in a good flirtish way. Pretty soon I let go of Courtney's wrists and grab the back of her head and neck and courtney does the same with me and we kiss each other long and hard and in a way that would make Geoff and Bridgette proud.

We are both enjoying the kiss and would give anything, even one of our limbs, for nothing to interrupt this moment. But of course something does. Courtney's phone goes off in her purse she laid down on my kitchen counter.

When it does I angrily whine. "oh come on! Really?"

Sharing her my contempt for the timing Courtney reluctantly walked over to her purse and grabbed her phone. Seeing as it was Bridgette courtney answered. "hey bridge whats up? Wait, wait, wait, what? Bridge slow down. He did what? Why? How bad is it? Sure I'll be right there."

Still a little frustrated but a mostly concerned now I asked. "well, Whats going on?"

Courtney puts her phone back into her purse, puts on her jacket forgetting to chang back into her dress shirt and sweater vest, she says. "I have to go; Geoff might be getting expelled from collage."

I'm surprised as hell by this since I never expected Geoff to be expelled, just put on probation. I then asks. "What does Bridgette want you to do?"

"bridge wants me to be his defense lawyer."

"What? Not that I'm not sure you couldn't do it, but why doesn't he use a more experienced lawyer instead of one that's still in law school?"

Understanding my point Courtney said not at all angry. "Geoff's parents cut him off financially, so he's on his own. Hey do you want to come too? It would mean a lot to Bridgette if you did."

"sorry I can't go. I can't risk being recognized." I said with a reluctantly, I do wanna be there for her, I just can't risk it.

Courtney remembering what I do says sadly. "oh right, sorry forgot that. Anyway I have to leave wish me and Geoff luck."

"I will later court." I said as she headed out the door. Right after Courtney leaves my stomach growls and I notices that he is incredibly hungry. Jesus Christ. I then go over to my kitchen counter and look at my phones clock which shows that I've been sparring with Courtney for almost 6 hours. I've only had a few granola bars and a protein shake, with my body still recovering, I'm freaking starving.

I then took off my fingerless gloves and go over to my dorms pantry in the kitchen and take out some mac and cheese. I then take out a fairly large pot, start my oven, fill said pot with a fair amount of water, and put the macaroni inside of the pot, which I then set on the oven.

While I do this I can't help but think about the Geoff situation and how bad I screwed up; I should have known that Geoff was on thin ice with his folks with all the drinking and partying he does. Since I set up Geoff as the fall guy he'll take most of the blame. I couldn't have screwed him over any worse... well that's not true but it's still pretty bad.

I then take out a cutting board, some red onions, green peppers, eggs and oscer mier chopped ham. I then start cutting the onions and peppers on the said cutting board. If Geoff's parents cut him off he won't have a lawyer just a crapy public defender, at best. Luckily for Geoff he's got Bridgette as a girlfriend who's got Courtney as a friend. But while Courtney is good, she's still too inexperienced and high-strung she'll come off too strong and try to muscle the court in her favor. By showing off how knowledgeable she is in law, and for collage court, law means crap. It's all about how well you're liked and how much of an asset you are to the collage. And how bad I made Geoff screw over the collage and without his parent's money to pay for an actual lawyer, they'll kick him out first chance they get.

After I'm done cutting the veggies I then start cutting the ham into little squares. Maybe I'm underestimating Courtney, maybe she can handle it.

I then takes out some paprika and sprinkle some into the still cooking macaroni. The best case scenario would be he'll just be put on probation as planed but… I know that that's not gonna happen. What the odds of that actually happening with his parent's money gone?

The opposite is much more likely; with Geoff kicked out of college, and his parents won't take him back, and without their financial support, with his reputation no college will accept him, and Geoff will be forced to work at some minimum wage job somewhere living off Bridgette until she's had enough of him mooching off her and she kicks him out of her life. I can't do that to him, or Bridgette, neither one deserves that. I have to do something to fix my mistake.

I then turn back to the oven and I can see that my macaroni is done. I then shut off the stove, dump all of the water out, pour in the cheese mix, along with the veggies, and the ham, and I begin stirring.

But the question for my now is; how far am I willing to go to help someone I've wronged? How far can I go without going too far? There is only one way I can help and it will not be pretty, or legal. While I think that my phone then starts vibrating on my kitchen counter. I go over to see who it is and according to the caller ID its Harold of all people. 'Why the hell not?' I ask myself and I reluctantly answer it. "hey whats up?"

"you are a genius you know that? The whole nerd light show was a huge success." Harold said enthusiastically.

Not caring even remotely I ask halfheartedly. "that's great but why are you telling me this?"

"because thanks to your genius lashana loved out date… oh and I got an unwelcomed caller who wants a word with you who should be there any minute."

"why didn't you tell me sooner? And how is this 'unwelcomed caller?'" I ask him intrigued.

"hey the only reason I'm telling you this at all is because you helped me out and the caller is our 'mutual friend'. We're even now." Harold says as before he hangs up.

"Harold? Hey Harold! Dammit." I said as I notice that Harold hung up on me. "God that guy is annoying." I then put my phone back into my pocket and I walk back over to my food. "Who the hell is our 'mutual friend' was and what the hell does that mean, oh crap its-" I stop just as it hits be because someone starts knocking at my door. "oh don't tell me that's-"

"Duncan open this door now!" yelled an angrily feminine voice.

"Yep it's her." I say as I start walking over to my door and I look through the little peep hole and see my very angry Goth friend. I knew this was gonna happen but not this soon, damn deutsch works fast. I then reluctantly open up the door and when I does gwen says angrily. "You're a jerk you know that."

"that's nice, what happened?" I asked.

Gwen then pushes him out of the way and walks right in and says even more pissed off. "oh like you don't know."

"no I don't know, where have you been courtney has been trying to call you."

"I don't want to talk about it. You jerk." She says again.

Having had arguments like this I ask with a straight. "Why am I a jerk?"

Immediacy after I ask that Gwen loses it and starts pounding on me and while doing that she says angrily. "You know exactly why you're a jerk. Jerk"

Even though her little punches don't really hurt I block out of reflex and ask trying not to be pissed off. "What are you hitting me for?"

She stops hitting me and says. "You really wanna know why I'm calling you a jerk and hitting you?"

"Yes, yes I do. Feel like sharing?"

"It's because Trent broke up with me. That's why."

I drop my arms down and with a blank face I just say. "Oh."

"Yeah oh." She then starts hitting me again only harder.

Tired of this I grab Gwen's wrists and ask her. "Stop hitting me, how is that my fault."

Gwen very angrily while struggling says. "Drop the act Duncan you know why it's your fault."

"How would I know?"

"It's a real coincidence that I tell you my problems with Trent and the next day he breaks up with me." She says just before pulling her hands free.

Seeing no reason to keep up the charade I drop it and admit. "Ok fine I made him break up with you, happy?! And you know what I'd do it again! I did you a favor."

"You're a fucking idoit!" Gwen yells at me walking deeper into my dorm.

I fallow her and say back. "Trent was bad for you, you said so yourself."

"Shut up!" she bites back.

"He cheated on you with every girl he could and thought of you as his property that he could do anything to. If I hadn't done what I did it would have ended with him in jail, you hurt, and possibly raising one of his kids. And that's the good scenario, I've seen it before."

Just barely holding it together Gwen says. "Oh the super smart duncan thinks he knows best huh! You don't know anything!"

"Ok fine enlighten me." I challenge while walking closer to her.

Gwen walks up to me looks at me long and hard for a minute but then breaks down and says. "He was my first boyfriend Duncan! I've been dating him since I was 16. That's four years Duncan. And suddenly he just calls me to meet me at our favorite restaurant and when we do he only says that he wants to break up and leaves without saying a word. He wouldn't even talk to me, or tell me why, he just said 'I wanna break up' and left. That's it. What kind of a way to break up is that when you've been in a relationship for four years? And you wanna know where I was Duncan? I was in the library crying my eye's out." She then cries in my chest.

I sigh, I made another mistake didn't I? I should have made Trent break up with her some other way, oh well to late now. I look down at the still crying girl on my chest. What the hell am I supposed to do now? oh what the hell? I ask myself as I awkwardly hug her not knowing what else to do. She deserves the truth. "I told Trent to break up with you like that."

Gwen then looks right up at my face tears in her eyes and asks. "Why would you do that?"

"Because if he dragged it on it would have only been more painful for you. It was the right thing to do Gwen."

She is silent for a minute but then starts crying into my chest again. I just let her be like that, I caused this its kinda the least I can do. After a few minutes she says still whimpering. "I know you meant well and it probably was the right thing but I still don't like it. And I don't' like the fact that you went behind my back and did that." She said while still being hugged by me.

"well I couldn't really go to the cops and tell them what the situation was. It's the only way I could help." I said gently letting go of Gwen.

Gwen then walked over to one of my few chairs, sits in it, and says. "I know you meant well but still I don't like it. Four years is a long time to be in a relationship."

"I wouldn't know." I admitted, though I don't know why.

"Why is that?" she said looking at me.

"Normally I only date girls for a few weeks at a time, actually Courtney is the longest one I've had and most of the time it was just an act."

Gwen just sighs and says looking down at my floor. "Sorry to hear that. Hey is it ok if we don't talk for a while?"

"Fine by me." I say all too happy at the opportunity of no more drama for a while. I then look back at Gwen and see's that she is holding back tears like before. I hate seeing her so depressed there's gotta be some way to cheer her up. I then look see that my food is more than ready and is actually starting to get cold. Heh why not I made more than enough for just me. "Hey you want some of my food?"

"Sure what do you got?"

"I've got this dish I made out of mac and cheese, red onions, green peppers, and chopped ham, and a little paprika." I say to her while grabbing two bowls and putting the dish in them. I then walk over to Gwen food in hand, with spoons.

When I hand her bowl to her she looks at it for a second not really knowing what to make of it so I take a bit of it and says. "its good try some."

Gwen does as I ask and takes a bite and as soon as she does she puts on a smile and says. "it's really good."

I smugly say back while chewing. "I know."

"Did you make this?" she asks as she takes another bite.

"I did."

"how did you learn to cook so good?"

"I'm trying to be a chef here. I've been taking culinary courses. I'm sure you learned that from Harold when he 'probably' looked through my records and showed you guys. By the way I've got to have a talk with that buy about invading privacy and illegal surveillance. "

Gwen while still chewing my food asks. "hey how did you know about that?"

Taking another bite I answer. "I only assumed that courtney or some other member of your group would have Harold do that and thanks for confirming it."

She laughs at what I said and says back. "Sorry we did that its just that we didn't really know what to make of you. All we knew was that you worked at a place where illegal fights happen and we saw you beet three other scary looking people up. And I know you have a right to be mad but I find it kinda funny that the criminal is actually angry that someone is doing something illegal on him. Oh the irony."

I lose my smile and look right at her and say in a very serious tone. "Don't call me a criminal."

Gwen surprised at my change in mood awkwardly says. "I won't… sorry. And yeah I knew you were trying to be a chef but I didn't think they were this good and didn't think they taught 'dishes' like this."

"well no they're not that good. They only teach the basics. I actually learned how to cook in military school. One of their punishments/ rewards was cooking for the entire regiment's food."

"I still can't believe how good you are, hey do you make other 'dishes' as good as this?"

"yep, this is just something I made for dinner, you should eat something I make for a meal."

"I will. Hey why do you want to be a chef? You don't seem like the type."

"oh really what type am I?" I asked jokingly I kinda wish I didn't ask.

"oh I don't know you seem like the type who would wanna be a cop." Gwen said before innocently taking another bite of my food, she has no knowing how deep her comment cut into me.

I ask with a serious face. "why do you think that?"

"I don't know I just do." Gwen said catching on to how this was a touchy subject for me.

"huh." I said simply as I took another bite of my delicious homemade meal. "When I was in military school I was forced to cook the meals and I… found out I like it, and I was really good at it. It was actually fun. It's probably my only real skill I have."

"you have skills." Gwen said trying to cheer me up.

"like what?" I asked not really looking at her.

"well you're a really good fighter, you have great insight into people, and-"

"it's my only skill I'm proud of. All those other skills you just said was engraved into me by my cop family and the military school. Cooking's the only skill I can say I choose for myself and not forced onto me." I said just staring into my bowl.

Gwen is silent from what I said she probably has no idea what to say, she just awkwardly takes another bite from the bowl of my food.

Great I made an awkward moment. "So what made you wanna be a nurse?"

"Actually I didn't want to be a nurse. I actually wanted to be a doctor."

"like Courtney's mother? Then why are you in nursing school?"

Gwen hesitantly answers. "it was just too expensive to go to an actual medical school and nursing school is actually much cheaper and quicker. And yeah, whenever we would hang out at Courtney's house in high school her mom would try to explain medical stuff to us. It never stuck with either Courtney or Bridgette but me I liked it. My plan is that after I become a nurse I'll do that for a few years until I've saved up enough money and go to an actual medical school."

"that could take up to 10 years maybe more."

"I know but it's what I wanna do. What are you gonna do after you graduate?"

"I'm gonna try to be a chef at a restaurant, maybe open one of my own."

"that's amazing, what are you gonna name it?"

I roll my eyes remembering my conversation with courtney earlier I say annoyed. "Why do people always ask me to name things?"

"What?" Gwen asked confused.

"nothing, I haven't thought of a name yet its still too early for that."

"that's fair. Hey I we found out that another fighter at the club is trying to be a chef at the university, any chance you know him? Its the Jamaican spice guy you fought." Gwen asked as she takes the last bite of her food.

Ok how the hell did she find that out? Aw screw it she already knows. "yeah I know him, he's in my class, he's actually a friend of mine. I don't spend a lot of time with him because we can't afford to be seen together and being recognized."

"yeah I get it. hey I've been meaning to ask; what do you guy's do after the fights are over?"

"well usually we just go to whatever we can call home and try to sleep, why?"

"no I mean you guys beat each other. How do you deal with that? Do you go to a midnight clinic, a hospital, what?"

I sigh and say. "well actually what we do is that with whatever money we can spare we buy gauze and anti-pain muscle relaxant ointment. The fighters who haven't fought yet administer the gauze and ointment to those who have. It doesn't fix everything but it gets the job done… sorta."

Gwen is visibly put off by this and asks. "but what about the serious injuries? Like broken bones? You had cracked ribs duncan if you kept going it would have caused permanent damage. It still might, what do you guys do then?"

"we try to ignore it and let it heal best it can but if it does get that bad we usually go free clinics under false names. We don't like to do that because its dangerous."

"more dangerous from dying from internal injuries?" Gwen asked.

"kind of yes." I admit. "if one of us gets caught by the police and the find out about the fight club they'll send us all to prison. We can't have that gwen. If it did it would be very bad for not just us; the fighters. But also for our families.

Some of the fighters are actually parents using the fight money to try and keep their families fed and housed, others are forced to because they are using the winnings to make sure their own parent's golden years are spent in the good retirement homes they deserve and are still forced to sleep out in some ally or in their car.

Take Jamaican spice for example; he can't afford to move out of his parents' house. His mom got laid off and can't find work and his dad spends every day all day in a broken down factory just trying to make ends meet. In fact they think that he got a part time job at some run down gas station and is using that money to pay for college. How do you think they would react to having their son go to jail because they couldn't send their son to the school he deserved?"

"that's not fair to them duncan." Gwen said to him.

"I know that but that's how they'll see it. And now you know why we can't afford to go to hospitals unless its absolutely necessary."

"what about the dean, he's gotta care enough to at least try and help you guys when your hurt?"

"no he doesn't. And if we do get hurt he'll either just throw us out back into the street or back into the ring until we collapse. That's why we try to keep it a secret from him too… he's a sadist Gwen, he likes to see people suffer. Even if it hurts him in the long run, he won't care."

Gwen is silent for a minute just trying to process everything I said. She looks kind of like she's gonna start crying again. Oh god please don't, I thought we were past this. It is my fault through I shouldn't have told her all that. She then says. "I'm sorry duncan."

"don't be there's nothing you can do. It's just something I have to live with." I tell her. It doesn't seem to do much to lift her spirits… or mine. there is then a cold silence between us. Ok enough of this. "so what do ya wanna do now?"

"I don't know?"

"lets go for a walk." I said getting out of my chair.

"a walk?" she asked looking at me walk over to the front door of my dorm.

"sure why not? Its good exercise." I tell her as I open the door.

"ok." Gwen says as she gets up and leaves with me out of my dorm.

Our walk is mostly in comfortable silence just walking off the campus and into town, until we come across a tattoo and piercing parlor. Gwen stops when we walk past it and while looking up at their sign says. "hey let's stop here."

"why?" I ask turning back to her.

"Because of my break up with Trent I will be getting a piercing." She said with an innocent smile.

"In celebration or tragedy." I say trying to mess with her.

Put off by what I just said Gwen answers. "Both, neither, whatever. Anyway you're paying for it.

"why am I buying you a piercing?" I asked feeling like my wallet was getting lighter.

Gwen smugly answered. "Since you made Trent; my longtime boyfriend break up with me, you'll be the one doing the buying, because you owe me."

"do have any idea how much piercings cost?" I asked gesturing to the parlor.

Gwen with a smirk usually worn by me says. "Hmmm don't care you're doing it."

So that's what that feels like. "Fine, but it is gonna be the smallest and cheapest one they do, got it."

Gwen then grabbed my arm and says to me while leading me into the door. "Fine let's go."

XXX

After the piercing I came out first looking at my now much lighter wallet with Gwen right behind me trying desperately not to touch her new piercing just under her lower lip.

After getting out of the place Gwen looks at her reflection in the glass window of the place and then looks at me and asks. "so how do I look?"

I jokingly squint and joke. "you look… like your face is numb."

"ha ha ha, how do I really look?" she asked looking a little worried.

"you look great, the piercing really suits you." I say to her honestly.

"really or area you just messing with me?" she asks with a hoping look.

"not this time you really do look good." I say to her nodding with a smile on my face.

Gwen blushed at my comment and tried to hide it best she could. I'm gonna ignore it don't wanna make things complicated. We then start walking down the sidewalk again, though she is a little close to me for my liking but whatever, even some of the other people on the side walk give us some looks like they think we are a couple. I just shrug I don't really care.

After a few moments of walking in silence I say after seeing her hand on her lower lip feeling the new addition to her face. "you should really enjoy the numbness now because once it wears off its gonna be really sore pasty."

Gwen giggled at my comment but then looked at the park across the street and says. "hey we should go over there for a while."

"why." I asked.

"because I'm tired of walking on assault and cement, and it would be nice to get some actual fresh air. Come on lets go." Gwen said grabbing my hand and dragging me over to the park. I thought courtney was grabby.

Once we got over to the park I asked. "ok so now what you wanna do?"

"what you thought we should do; walk. And is it ok if we don't talk anymore? My face is still numb." Gwen asked with slurred speech.

"that's fine by me pasty." I say while walking next to Gwen. Gwen and me like before, walked in comfortable silence through the park, passing by tree's, squirrels, rabbits, right up until we made it to the middle of the park. The middle of the park was paved, had a large fountain, and various stands which were still serving to people.

Seeing the stands Gwen asked. "hey I'm getting a little thirsty, you mind if we stop and get something to drink?"

I shrug and say. "sure, but I recommend Ice water."

"why ice water?"

"because It's got no sugar in it and you just got a piercing on your lip."

"oh right good idea." Gwen said to me just before we walked up to one of the stands. We both then order a small cup of ice water which I buy. I gotta get an accountant when I'm with gwen next time, or a budget plan. We then take our drinks and go sit at one of the benches next to the fountain and start drinking our newly bought water. After a few minutes of just sitting and drinking our water in silence I notice that Gwen is a little depressed.

This will cheer her up. I think to myself as I take the straw out of my drink. I the grab a pebble off the ground, put it in my straw, and say to her. "Watch this." I then shoot it at a kid's balloon that was just bought at one of the stands by his mom, which immediately pops and makes the kid start crying.

Gwen immediately starts laughing at my antics. I then asks her with a smirk. "Hey pasty you wanna try?"

"oh yeah." Gwen said as she took out her own straw, loaded it with a pebble, and shot at another kids balloon, which also popped. We both start laughing when the kid starts throwing a tantrum.

"nice shot." I compliment.

"thanks… why does this feel like a date?" Gwen just blurted out

It does kinda and I immediately start laughing at this and say humorously. "its not because 1. I'm not your rebound guy. And 2. If it was Courtney would rip your head off and hit me with a car, and neither of us are suicidal."

Gwen laughs at my joke and says. "this is great, I haven't' had this much fun with Trent in a long time."

"Aren't you glad I got rid of him for ya then?" I asked with my signature smirk.

Still smiling Gwen admitted. "yes I am kind of glad you did. I just wish I did it myself instead of how it happened."

"sorry to say this but it had to happen like the way it did. Since he saw you as his property, if you tried it the only thing that would have happened would be you hurt both emotionally and physically by the guy and you'd still be his 'girlfriend'. I had to be the one to do it."

Gwen sighs and says. "I know, its just that he was my first boyfriend, and four years is a long time."

"you'll get over it soon enough and find some other weirdo musician guy to date."

"oh no I am done with musicians." Gwen said completely serious.

"oh really well then what type of guy are you going after then? Maybe a secret criminal who wants to be a chef?" I said wiggling my unibrow jokingly at her.

Gwen laughs at me and jokes back. "it's tempting but he's already taken, jerk." She then playfully punches him in the shoulder. "unless you're talking about Jamaican spice? Then sure why not?"

While rubbing the spot she punched sarcastically I say. "ow that hurt. And sure I'll set up a date; oh and by the way his name is DJ."

They both chuckle at my joke for a few minutes then we just sit there in silence again. But after a few minutes Gwen asked. "so why didn't you want to be a cop like the rest of your family?"

I sigh and say in a mundane tone. "You probably wouldn't understand this, but I didn't want to be a cop because my family is nothing but. Ever since I could crawl I've felt forced to be a police officer, and yeah I'm a natural at it, I'm perfectly suited for the job, and I've even gotten an almost perfect aptitude test for it, but it's just not something I want to do."

"I can understand that." Gwen said looking at me.

"That's not all of it." I let on.

"What do you mean?" Gwen asked intrigued.

"My dad was consumed with being a cop; he was a cop 24/7 he was like that ever since mom died. He treated the dinner table like the station and always told the rest of us what to do and when we didn't or just talked back he cracked down on us and I mean hard. Because of that I did a lot of stupid things to rebel against him."

"What kind of stupid things?"

"I don't want to talk about it, but I will say that my dad cracked down on me worse every time and every time I tried to rebel against him harder. It kept going until I was eventually thrown out of the house and into boot camp just so he wouldn't have to deal with me anymore, or hurt his reputation."

"Sorry to hear that."

"its ok, look I know that since your father died when you were really young you wouldn't know this but the relationship between a father and his kids is a complicated one. Me and my broes and sis loved our dad and wanted him around more, and we hated the fact that he chose the job over his own family. My brothers and sister did everything they could to gain his approval and respect, but me; I acted out to just try to get his attention when I was a kid. I probably wouldn't have even done half the things I did if my father was my dad instead of my parole officer."

It is then silent between us again, only this time it's not a comfortable silence, it's something else. I look up into space just thinking about my life and my relationship, or lack thereof, with my father and family, and how its lead to where I am now. Gwen just stairs at me, I'm guessing that she's desperately trying to find something to say to me. And I let her, I kinda just wanna sit her right now.

But then my phone starts vibrating in my pants pocket. I look to see who it is and is and I gotta say I'm surprised. Seeing this Gwen asks. "Who is it?"

Still holding my phone I answer answers. "I just got an e-vite from Harold."

Dumbfounded Gwen asks. "What for?"

"it says its for some nerd night at the computer lab."

"What?" Gwen asks surprised.

"that's what it said, you wanna go?"

Gwen shrugs and says. "Sure why not?" we then get up off the park bench and head back to the collage's computer lab.

XXX

When we get there we could see a line of people trying to get in, there's even an actual bouncer. Not wanting to wait in the line me and Gwen go to the front and try to get in but are stopped by the bouncer. "wow wow wow, back of the line you two."

"whatever man we got an e-vite." I said taking out my phone and showing it to him.

The bouncer looks at it for a second but just shrugs and says. "you and like 75 other people, back of the line."

Right before I lose my temper and punch the bouncer Harold comes up to us in a dark navy blue stalking cap, dark sun glasses, dark navy blue short sleeved shirt over his regular long-sleeved pink shirt, and a gold chain around his neck. Hey says. "Duncan my man good to see you." He then looks at Gwen's new piercing and says. "Gwen love the piercing."

"Harold I got your e-vite, whats going on?" I asked.

"its your idea. Remember you said I should use my 'nerd tech skills'. Well after I showed lashana, she loved it and she told her friends about it and asked me to show them and they loved it, so I asked one of the computer lab teachers if I could do a show in here."

"What show?"

"I set up a laser light show with dancing robots and it is awesome, and its all thanks to you man. Hey I've made special accommodations just for you as a thank you." He said gesturing to the door to the computer lab.

"Sweet so we don't have to pay to get in?" Gwen asked.

"Um no you still gotta pay; I just gave you front row seats, GOSH!"

I sigh and say. "Fine how much?"

The bouncer says with Harold nodding. "Its five dollars, each."

I then takes out a 10 from my wallet and hand it to the bouncer but say under his breath as I walk in. "_Cheap ass."_

After I hand over the money Harold says. "great come on in the shows about to start."

Me and Gwen fallow Harold into the computer lab and when they do they see that it is packed with students, mostly couples, and most of the computers, desks, and chairs have been pushed to the side walls to make room for bean bag chairs. Most of the bean bag chairs are taken except two in the front which have little signs on them that say 'reserved'.

Not expecting much from the show I whisper to Gwen. "Ready for the show to suck?"

Gwen whispers back. "Totally."

Harold then announces. "Ladies and gentlemen, hope you enjoy the show!"

Harold then types on his lap top and a few seconds later the music starts, then the lasers which are moving all over the place, including the ceiling and the walls. The robots start to dance to the music and lasers.

Slightly impressed at this I whisper to Gwen. "Maybe this won't be so bad."

Gwen with a smile whispers back. "Yeah it looks actually good… thanks."

"For what?" I asked curious.

"for everything; what you did to Trent, he deserved whatever you did to him and I'm glad you did it. Showing me a good time today; the food, the piercing, the park, and this show. I can't remember the last time I had this much fun."

"Ah don't worry about it. Just helping out a friend." I try to shrug off.

"Don't even try Duncan, after all the crap you have to go through and helping courtney then me. I'm going to find a way to pay you back for all this."

I chuckle at this and say with a smirk. "Ok fine, unless its something serious, after the fights how about you patch me up."

"Deal." Gwen says enthusiastically, she then hugs me and says. "thank you duncan courtney is really lucky to have you."

Surprised at her sudden hug and comment I look emotionlessly at the dancing robots. She has no idea how wrong she is, about who I am, and about how I have to do whatever I can to make sure she and the others never know.

_Well that's it for this chapter hope you liked it. Now about the whole piercing things I've never got one, and I do know people who do have them I've just never asked how long it takes, how they do it, or how much it costs to get one. So if I have any of the facts wrong just tell me and I'll adjust the material accordingly. _

_This chapter is also the first time duncan has given any real clues into his past and his relationship with his family, more specifically his own father, which will be a major theme in the story._

_And I know that making Gwen and duncan friends is a risky move I've already said that but, that's part of the fun. Now while I won't give anything away I will say that those two will get closer in the future and Courtney will be, well Courtney about it. Hope you like it._

_Also in the next chapter duncan will have to deal with the repercussions of what he did to Geoff and it will push duncan to how far he is willing to go to fix his own mistakes, something he's still learning how to do. Can you feel the suspense yet?_

_Oh yeah, usually I just have one quote but this time I found two really good ones, please tell me which one you think is best._

"Perseverance is more prevailing than violence; and many things which cannot be overcome when they are together, yield themselves up when taken little by little."

"Good character is not formed in a week or a month. It is created little by little, day by day. Protracted and patient effort is needed to develop good character."


	19. The wall that is my life

_Hey everybody I'm back, I hope you missed me I know I missed you. Sorry it took so long I had a lot of crap going on recently but the bottom line is that I'm back every chapter has been rewritten to be better than before and I got a whole new chapter that I know you'll love. And not just a new DESPERATION but every story I have is now updated at the same time._

_Now I hope you don't think this chapter is going to be a slacked off piece of work might actually be my best one yet. But I'll let you be the 'judge' of that._

_Without further ado the next chapter of DESPERATION, I own nothing, and I still need a beta._

**DESPERATION **

**CHAPTER 19- THE WALL THAT IS MY LIFE**

CPOV

I am at my dorm sitting on one of the chairs in the living room at the coffee table, the dorm is only big enough for one table, with Geoff sitting across from me on the couch looking like he is barely keeping it together with Bridgette sitting next to him trying to console him.

I have been here I don't even know how long trying to draw up a defense case to help Geoff but since he has been so characteristically frustrating its hard to tell how long we've been going at this. I'm holding several papers that I thought would help and even more are on the coffee table that I thought would help too but turned out to be useless.

"Geoff do you know when the party started?" I ask holding a pen waiting for his answer.

"Uh I kinda was already stoned by the time I got there soooo no." Geoff said with a guiltless look though when he said that Bridgette rolled her eyes. Hey can't blame her its hard for me not to.

"Alright then… do you know how many people were at the party?"

"Ah I was kinda more concerned about having a good time and how many kegs we had. As long as the party was awesome I didn't' really notice." I just wanna hit this guy and by the look of it so does Bridgette.

"okay here is probably another pointless question; Who's was the owner of the bong you had when the police came?"

Geoff was then silent and it looked like he was trying to think but its kinda hard to tell. I've never seen him try to think before, I've known the guy for years and all I've ever seen him do is either talk, party, or make out with Bridgette. But eventually he just shakes his head and says to me. "Yeah… sorry I don't even remember anything past 10:00 last night."

"UHH! Do you remember anything useful?!" I ask completely out of patience.

Geoff seems scared by my outburst as he back up into my couch. He then said. "I'm sorry ok, I was too shit faced to remember anything about last night. I don't even remember the cops at the frat house."

"well what do you remember?"

"I remember waking up at the county drunk tank."

Once he said that I just slump back in my chair and rub the spot between my eye's (don't know the name). when I do that Bridgette says to her idiot boyfriend. "Come on geoff there has to be something you remember."

Geoff looks at Bridgette and says to her. "I'm sorry there really is nothing, all I can tell you is that that was one killer party."

Good god I thought Harold was annoying but dammit at least he can be useful. "Well isn't that helpful! We've been at this who knows how long and where not getting anywhere let's take a break."

Bridgette just nods but then Geoff says something you would expect a rich, spoiled, frat boy would let out of his overpriced cake hole. "I can't believe my parents cut me off."

Bridgette then turns to him with a pissed off look and says. "Geoff that is the least of your problems right now."

Geoff then turns to her and says with his hands stretched out. "oh, is it? Without their money I won't be able to afford a real lawyer."

I get a little annoyed at his comment but before I can say anything Bridgette retorts. "You should have faith in courtney she's as good as any _other_ lawyer."

"Bridgette I'm sure she's good but she's still you law school. I would rather have _real_ lawyer with some more experience." He then turns to me and says. "I'm sorry Courtney but that's how it is."

"its fine I get it. But you don't need a _real_ lawyer I can handle it." I tell him and I try to sound convincing but to be honest he really shot himself in the foot on this one. I honestly have no idea how I'm going to help him. The only thing I can think of is hope that the judge is lenient and sends him some community service.

Bridgette then says to me. "Of course we trust you courtney." She then turns to Geoff and asks. "Right?"

But Geoff just ignores her and asks out loud. "What am I going to do?"

Once he says that Bridgette puts on a face that shows she doesn't know whether to be angry or worried about him. Honestly I think she should be mad, the dumb bastard brought this on himself. But me I just sigh and say. "I don't know about you two but I'm hungry."

I then set down the papers get up and walk to the kitchen part of the dorm. On the way there I hear Bridgette say. "there is some left over pizza in the fridge." She then stops for a second, I don't know why because I have my back turned to her but I then hear her say. "it will be alright Geoff."

I then hear Geoff say angrily. "How would you know?! Do you have any idea how many strikes the frat has? This isn't some drunk and disorderlies Bridgette. This is a full on group drug possession and use charge. Oh and don't forget the underage drinking, public vandalism, and when the cops raided the frat house some of the guys actually tried to bribe the cops with drugs and girls, some even hit the cops when they were being arrested… so ya might as well add attempted bribery, prostitution, and assault to that list. Those guys aren't getting expelled bridge they are going to prison."

By this point I'm behind the counter watching this, I've already taken out the left over pizza hut and stuffed a few of the pieces into the microwave. I really want to tear him a new one after hearing him say that but apparently Bridgette beat me too it because she says angrily. "Ya know its kinda hard to feel sorry for them when they've treated me the way they did. They deserve what their getting."

Geoff is surprised as hell by this judging by the look on his face and he asks. "How can you can you say that?"

This pisses Bridgette off even more and she retorts. "Your frat buddies have been making me clean up after them for two years."

Geoff then rolls his eyes and says annoyed. "Here we go again."

"And you did nothing about it!" Bridgette said pointing at Geoff.

"What do want me to do? They are my homies, my broes."

"Yeah and I'm your longtime girlfriend and don't give me any of that 'broes before hoes' crap!

Geoff folds his arms and slumps back into the couch and says. "You just don't understand."

Bridgette then explodes saying. "Oh I understand just fine! I understand that you just liked the frat lifestyle and didn't want to risk ruining it by growing some balls and standing up to the other guys in the frat."

"How dare you say that?" Geoff asks giving her a bad look.

But Bridgette is not intimidated in anyway and continues. "I'm surprised I didn't say it sooner. Uhh I don't even know why I'm trying anymore."

Both Geoff and I are shocked by that and I can't help but feel proud of her, good for you Bridgette. But after a few moments of silence Geoff asks. "What are you talking about?"

"Geoff if the threat of getting expelled isn't enough for you to see that what you've been doing is wrong than maybe your parents have the right idea."

"You can't possibly mean that."

"Oh yes I do mean it. Geoff you've been binge drinking and stoned out of your mind so much that its amazing that you haven't been kicked out of the collage, and forced to go to rehab by now. Are you even passing any of your classes? If the entire frat getting arrested and you possibly getting expelled isn't enough for you to admit that you have a problem then that's fine, I've had enough."

Geoff looking angry gets up off the couch and says. "If that's how you want it then fine! I don't need you are your prelaw friend."

Geoff then leaves for the door leaving an even angrier Bridgette on the couch. But before Geoff can make it to the front door Bridgette calls. "Geoff wait."

Geoff turns around and when he does he is hit in the face with a small ring. Bridgette then says angrily. "You can have your promise ring back."

Geoff bends down and picks up the ring and yells back. "FINE!"

"FINE!" Bridgette yells back before Geoff slams the door shut on his way out.

After geoff leaves Bridgette sits back down in the couch and says. "Asshole."

Just after she says that the microwaves timer goes off signifying that the pizza is done. I don't really know what to do in this situation because whenever Bridgette or Gwen try to do or say anything to me when I break up with my ex I usually ignore them. After a few moments in heated silence of watching Bridgette angrily stair at the coffee table I ask. "Are you ok?"

Without looking at me she answers. "I don't know."

"I-I'm sorry." I stammer to her but she just sits there looking at the coffee table as a response. After a few more moments of awkward silence I state. "I-I don't know what to say."

"That makes two of us."

Not knowing what else to do I take out the pizza and walk over to the coffee table and ask. "Hey the pizza is ready if you still want some?"

I set it down on the table and once I do Bridgette grabs a piece and so do I. we then eat in silence for a few minutes, horrible, heated, and awkward silence. Oh god I can't take it anymore. "Bridgette-"

"Who needs that _addict_? If he like his boos, weed, and his 'broes, more than me than screw him!" Bridgette said looking pissed off.

"Damn right!" I encourage. But the second I say that Bridgette does a 180 and looks like someone drove over her cat, and on the verge of tears says.

"I've made a horrible mistake!"

"Oh god" I say out loud, here we go the break up just hit her.

Bridgette continues. "Oh god is right! I just threw the best thing that ever happened to me out the door on his ass when he needed me the most."

"Bridgette no. what you did was a good thing." I try to tell her.

Bridgette then shows me her hand and points to the ring finger at where her promise ring used to be and said. "Do you see this? There is a tan there instead of a promise ring. I want my damn ring back I'm so stupid."

"Bridgette your not stupid."

Bridgette then gets up off of the couch and says. "Maybe its not too late, maybe I can still catch him."

She then heads for the door but before she can get to it I jump in her way and try to plead. "No you shouldn't do that, he's not worth it."

The second I say that she gives me an even scarier glare than she gave Geoff before and yells at me. "That's easy for you to say Courtney! Because your boyfriend is the nice, dangerous, sexy, _perfect_ guy!"

"Bridgette you need to calm down." I say calmly.

"DON'T TELL ME TO CALM DOWN!" Bridgette yells at me.

Once she does I do what you always should do when Bridgette starts to lose it; I hug her. Whenever she gets upset hugging always helps. And it works because Bridgette hugs back and starts crying on my shoulder. "There there everything is going to be okay."

Still whimpering Bridgette says. "I- I'm sorry, I know I have no right to say this to you after everything that's happened but its just so hard dealing with 'this' everything that's been going on, and now I broke up with Geoff. I just couldn't take it, I just lost it."

"I know what you mean, I lost it with duncan a few days ago." I admit.

"Sorry to hear that. Did you break up with him like I did with Geoff?"

"Actually no, things between me and him have never been better." I also admit.

"that's nice." Bridgette said and the second after she breaks from the hug steps back and asks. "How? Don't get me wrong but whenever you lose it you make people go running for the hills."

I'm about to say something but I'm stopped when the front door opens and both me and Bridgette see Gwen come in laughing while talking on her phone. "That is so funny Hah."

But she stops laughing the second she see's us, or Bridgette I'm guessing because she still has wet tears on her face. She then says to whoever is on the phone. "Sorry I have to go."

DPOV

"_sorry I have to go."_ Said gwen over the phone.

"That's cool later." I say to her before I hang up. Gwen's a fun chick but time to get down to business. I think as I walk past a small pack of cops. But I don't need to worry, I'm completely safe. I'm at the Vancouver police station surrounded by police and other authority figures… and other people on the other side of the law; you know my kind of people. Or at least people who I used to be like.

After me and Gwen split up at the laser light show I went back to my dorm and put on the scar make up again only this time its on the other side of my face and on in a different way, what you can't be too careful with facial recognition software. So far its having the same affects as before, whenever people look at me they always look at my scar instead of my face, so I'm in the clear. I'm also wearing a solid black baseball cap which makes it even less likely for people to notice me.

After I found out about Geoff getting expelled I knew that sooner or later most of the frat dumbass's parents would pay their bail and have them out so I came here to get some information. But what are the odds of any of them still being locked here? Its past 11 PM at night. I also can't stay here much longer or I'll eventually be caught and questioned. Hey I'm a creepy scar guy wandering around in a police station, what do you think is gonna happen.

"I'm getting nowhere." I say just before I take a seat at the bench near the front desk and sigh. I've been here for… honestly I have no idea but god I'm tired. From all the crap I've done today along with how I'm still beat and bruised I'm hungry and still in pain. Kinda wish I brought a sandwich and some pain relieve.

After I have my thought an older well dressed gentleman walks in to the police station and right up to the desk and at the front of the line of people. When he does the secretary says to him. "Sir you need to go to the end of the line-"

"I am Adam Moses; professor of the Vancouver university history of religion and head of the Vancouver historical foundation and I am here to bail out my idiot of a son Noah Moses."

The secretary not wanting to deal with this windbag any longer than she has to just tells him. "Fine, he's at the negative 2 B drunk tank. Its about time you got here he's the only frat boy left that wasn't bailed out yet."

Once he has the info he needs Mr. Moses simply walks away and toward the elevator. Hearing this entire thing I can't help but ask myself. "What were the odds of that?"

I then get up and go to the negative 2 B level through the stairs… for obvious reasons. When I get there I see Noah, the skinny know it all ass from the frat, being released by the police guard. After he is released Mr. Moses tells the guard. "Thank you officer."

"No problem sir, it's a good thing you got here when you did. Any long and we would've had to put in in the jail here." The guard explains.

The guard's not lying; there is a law on how long they can keep someone in the drunk tank until they get sent to a legit prison. Drunk tanks aren't actually prisons but more like big boy time out rooms for alcoholics.

Mr. Moses just nods at the guard and pulls away Noah to an empty part of the floor. I fallow them and I sit at one of the benches at the corner where they can't see me. I then hear Noah ask. "What took you so long?"

Mr. Moses angrily retorts. "What too- What took me so long? I was working at the historical foundation earning a living while you and your frat hooligans were getting arrested. Do you have any idea what the fraternity is getting charged with?"

"No I don't what are the charges?"

"Underage drinking for starters, public vandalism, public nudity, bribery, possession and use of narcotics, prostitution, assaulting a police officer and some of your fraternity brothers are going away to prison." Explained Mr. Moses sounding none too happyl.

"holy crap."

"Holy crap is right, you have no idea what I had to go through so that you wouldn't get expelled."

"What are the police charging me with?"

"since the police didn't find any drugs in your system and since you didn't piss off any of the officers they are just going to be charging you with underage drinking. I had to pull a lot of strings so that you wouldn't be charged as an accomplice."

"What happens now?"

"Well for one your suspended from the university and two I'm taking you out of the fraternity house and setting you up in the dorms and away from those future criminals."

"I can't really argue with that, but whats going to happen to the frat?"

"its probably getting shut down Noah."

"Shut down?"

"It might as well be since most of the fraternity boys are either being expelled or going to prison."

"Damn."

"Yes damn, now we are going home to discuss your punishment." Mr. Moses says to his son as they start walking back to the elevator. And as soon as they do I get up and start walking casually down the hall. This could not have worked out any better.

I then take out phone and make a call. "We have an opportunity."

CPOV

Its Sunday morning and as always at this time me, Bridgette, and Gwen are in our pajamas in our living room. Bridgette is just sitting Indian style on our couch staring at the tan line on her ring finger. Gwen is sitting at the chair I was sitting in last night looking concerned at Bridgette. And I'm in the kitchen heating up some hot chocolate for Bridgette, hey I've already had more than enough by now and she needs it more than I do. After Gwen showed up last night Bridgette just went back to the couch and did what she is doing now, she was like that until me and Gwen forced her to go to bed. Then I had to explain everything that happened last night to Gwen which was not fun let me tell you.

After I have that thought the timer for the microwave goes of informing me that the hot chocolate is done and ready. I take it out and walk over to Bridgette, not without blowing on it to try and cool it down. Once I get there I hand it to my long time blonde friend who then takes it from me and takes a sip. She then says to me. "Its hot."

"That's why its called hot chocolate." I say to her, I really don't wanna push her right now after how she was last night.

But I guess Gwen didn't have the same thought. "Okay enough of this. Bridgette do you wanna talk about it?"

Almost immediately Bridgette responded. "NO! we should talk about something nice… Gwen how are you and Trent?"

Yeah why not her and Trent have always been a good couple its just the thing to cheer Bridgette up. "um… me and Trent broke up."

Ok that I was not expecting… like at all. Me and Bridgette stair at Gwen shocked, well extremely surprised. After a couple of seconds of this I ask. "WHAT!"

"WHEN?" asked Bridgette.

Gwen then reluctantly answered. "Trent broke up with me yesterday at our restaurant."

"Not Panuchies." Bridgette pleaded. She liked the place's food, great pizza.

"Yep." Gwen answered kinda sad but not as much as you would think.

"Your taking this really well." I stated."

"I wasn't at first, but I got over it… or I will. Besides things between me and him have been less than great recently so it was only a matter of time until one of us broke it off." Gwen admitted. Ok when did this all happen?

"You were pretty happy last night when you came in. I was assuming it was Trent you were talking to, so if he broke up with you… who was it?" asked Bridgette. Good question.

"Oh I-I uh… ran into duncan last night after the break up and he cheered me up." Gwen stammered, oh that's nice, wait what?"

"You met duncan last night?" I asked.

"Yep, he even let me have some of his home made food, which by the way you guys have got to try it's amazing." Gwen stated looking almost… giddy?

"Um Gwen please, Duncan." I tell.

"oh right sorry. Well anyway after we ate we went for a walk in the park, then he took me to a laser light show."

"A laser light show?" I ask, why the hell didn't he bring me to that?

"Yeah Harold sent him an e-vite to it, it's even got dancing robots. I think Harold is doing another show today if before break is over if you guys want to go to it." Gwen suggested. But I and Bridgette just continue to stare at her nothing short of shocked, though for Bridgette I have no idea why.

Gwen is visibly getting uncomfortable by our stares and says awkwardly. "Or not." After a few more moments of awkward silence Gwen says. "Guys will you please say something? Your making me really uncomfortable."

After Gwen says that Bridgette gets up out of her seat and walks over to Gwen like a zombie and when she gets close Gwen asks. "Bridgette what are you doing?" Bridgette ignores her and continues to closer to Gwen. Okay even I'm creeped out by this. "Bridgette stop."

"You didn't." Bridgette stated to Gwen looking at her face down by her chin for some reason.

"I did what?" Gwen asks backing into her chair.

But Bridgette then grabs Gwen's face and says while looking at Gwen's lower lip now. "You got a piercing!"

"Maybe." Gwen said while not looking at Bridgette.

Bridgette now looking at Gwen's eye's asks. "When did you get a piercing?"

"… 'duncan' bought it for me." Gwen admitted.

Okay enough of this I get up out of my seat and go toward Gwen and ask. "What?!"

After I say that Gwen immediately got out of Bridgette's hold and out of the chair and started backing away while pleading to me. "Now courtney it's not what you think."

I stop advancing toward her but I ignore her pleas and ask. "WHY did duncan buy you a piercing?"

She stops backing up herself and says. "Because I guilt tripped him into getting me one; 'oh I just broke up with my longtime boyfriend I need to try something new and spontaneous'."

Ok I can respect that. I think to myself as I take a deep breath and calm down. I then sit down in the nearest chair and sigh. Gwen then pleas again. "It's not what it sounds like."

I turn to her trying to keep my anger, and a little bit of jealousy in check and say. "Well it sounds like you and duncan went on a date."

"It wasn't a date, duncan was just helping me get over my break up with trent."

"Why would duncan do that when-" I am stopped mid-sentence when we hear a knock at the door. Gwen looks at me for a second like a deer caught in head lights not knowing what to do. "go ahead." I tell her.

Gwen then slowly backs up, turns, and walks to the front door and answers it and when she does we are all shocked by who is at it. It is the last person we expected to see.

DPOV

I am sitting in the conference chair in the dean's office. The dean is sitting in his overpriced swivel chair staring me down while his body guard lighting does the same, though he is standing. The Dean then asks after a few seconds of hard silence. "Why did you call this meeting Duncan?"

"I did say last night that we had a golden opportunity."

"That you did but you didn't say what it was about."

I smirk at this and say. "Do you know about the frat house fiasco?"

The dean groans at what I said and answers. "Yes I have and it is a nightmare. But what does that have to do with anything?"

"As you know many of if not most of those idiots in that frat are well-connected and wealthy families." I explain.

"Yeah so what?"

"Well do you know the charges being brought against them?"

The dean then rubs his temples and says.. "Yeah I do, some are even going to prison. But what is the relevance of all this."

"Only a small amount of them are going to prison-" I try to tell him but he interrupts me.

"I'm losing my patience." The dean said looking annoyed which is never good when your alone with him in a room with only his body guard.

"What if I told you that I had a way to turn all this around and make it so that the parents of the frat boys that aren't going to prison indebted to you?" I ask him and it immediate gets his attention.

The dean looks at me intrigued but says nothing so I ask smugly. "You ready to listen to my proposal now?"

The dean gives me a hard look but says. "I think I am."

CPOV

Me and Bridgette are sitting on the couch trying desperately to watch a soap opera on our TV instead of the one behind us happening in Gwen's room.

"You almost done in there?" Asked Gwen sounding annoyed who was leaning on her door frame.

"Yeah I'm almost done." He answered also sounding annoyed.

"If you wanted your stuff you could have just called me and I would have brought it to you." Gwen said to him now sounding a little mad.

"You think I wanted to come here? No, I had to so you wouldn't ruin any of my stuff! Because we both know that's exactly the kind of thing you would do." he said which really pisses me off. I turn around and see Trent holding a cardboard box with a lot of stuff in it I will be glad to never see again looking arrogantly at Gwen.

"Whatever you almost done yet with getting your crap out of my room?" Gwen asked glaring back at him, hell we all are because I can see Bridgette glaring at him too.

Trent then turns around and goes back into Gwen's room and says. "I will be done when I am done now shut up and let me get to it."

God I want to hurt this guy. Trent came here some time ago to get his stuff. At first gwen wouldn't let him in telling him to just make list of what stuff he wants back and she would get them for him but trent wouldn't hear of it and said that he would called the housing department of the university about her stealing his stuff. But when he said that I told him that if he tried I would have done everything I could to turn that against him and if he wanted to go there he could go there. But Trent didn't back down, which was weird considering he was a clumsy wuss musician.

Just before I was about to tear him a new one Gwen let him in saying that it was just better to get it over with so we wouldn't have to see him again… and I guess she's right. But what I wanna know is what happened to them, they were always such a cute couple now they can barely look at each other.

"Okay I'm done happy now?" Trent asks standing in front of Gwen with his box full.

"No but I would be if happy if I broke it off with you a long time ago." Gwen says still glaring at him.

Trent is put off by this but then gets smug and asks. "Oh really than why didn't you?"

Gwen backs up after he asks that and says a little shaken. "You know why."

Ok what the hell is that about? Trent then says. "Yeah I do and it's just pathetic that you hated it so much that I had to be the one to break up with you."

Gwen is visibly sad and angry by what he said; I just wanna jump over there and rip his head off. But for some reason Gwen then smiles and says to him. "Don't forget the reason you broke up with me in the first place."

Trent is shocked into silence by what she said for a moment but then regains his smug smile and says. "Oh right because I can any girl I want, and I'm tired of the ol ball and chain."

Just before I'm about to act on my impulse to run over there and rip his nuts off Gwen says while smirking. "No it's because of my old buddy."

Ok what the hell does that mean? Whatever it doesn't really matter because Trent is visibly intimidated by what his now Ex-girlfriend said and stammers. "I-I didn't know that you… whatever, please just tell 'scar face' that I only came here for my stuff and nothing else ok. Please or he'll hurt me again."

Gwen puts on a confused look when Trent tells her that, hey she's not the only one. Who's scar face? Gwen then asks. "What are you talking about?"

"Your know the scary scar faced guy, white, around five ten, kinda bulky, has a scar going down his right cheek and into his neck."

Nothing comes to my mind from Trent's description and apparently nothing comes to mind to Gwen either because she just stands there giving him a weird look. Trent just shrugs and says. "Please tell him not to hurt me."

Gwen just shakes her head and says while pointing to the door. "Whatever now please get out."

"okay but please tell me that you'll tell him not to hurt me." Trent pleaded.

"Get out Trent." Gwen said getting annoyed.

"Fine." Trent stated none too happy right before he walked past Gwen and too the door. Gwen fallowed him while me and Bridgette stayed where we were.

After Trent opens the door he turns around and with full puppy dog eye's says to gwen. "Last chance."

"What?" Gwen asked.

"Its your last chance if you want to get back together." Trent said giving her a pretty boy smirk.

"Wow, and here I thought you couldn't get any more into yourself." Gwen stated, yeah its kinda hard to beat that.

"Oh it wasn't that bad, and come on you can't tell me that since we broke up you never thought about coming back and asking me to get back together." Jesus Christ, do all self-absorbed Asshole boyfriends act the same or is it just me. He sounds just like Al.

Gwen doesn't take too kindly to this because she is visibly angered by this and yells at her ex. "NO I DID NOT! NOW GET OUT OF MY DORM AND OUT OF MY LIFE!"

Listening her say that to him puts a smile on my face, good for her. But when I look at trent I see that he's just standing there with a look that I can't really describe. After a few seconds of silence Gwen orders him. "GET OUT!"

Trent then says cryptically. "You didn't."

"What?" Gwen asks.

"You got a piercing!" Trent yelled looking angry.

"Yeah so? GET OUT!" Gwen yelled.

Trent just continues to stare at her. "You know how I feel about piercings."

"Yeah well too bad now leave Trent-"

"Did you get a tattoo too?" He interrupts glaring even harder at Gwen.

"Its none of your business anymore now get out before I call the cops!" Gwen threatened.

"No you won't!" Trent said just before he dropped his box of crap on the ground and then pushes gwen against the wall.

Gwen struggles and yells. "STOP IT!"

Trent ignores her and just keeps trying to grab hold of Gwen's wrists and before I know it Bridgette runs up to Trent and grabs him by one of his arms and try's to pull him off but he bitch slaps her on the ground. I run over to Bridgette to check if she is ok and she appears to be so but her jaw and right cheek are already starting to get red and swelling up.

"TRENT STOP!" Gwen pleads.

Trent just grabs both of her wrists and holds them together in one hand. He then says. "I'm going to rip out that little whore stud and let's see how well your scar faced 'friend' likes you then."

But just before he can do anything I go over to Trent and punch him in the face as hard as I can, knocking him down on the ground releasing Gwen in the process. Both Gwen and Bridgette stare at me with shock and hey I can't blame'em.

Trent is on the ground holding the spot I punched him and says. "You bitch that hurts!"

"Good now get out of our dorm because I am calling the cops after you leave."

Trent gets up after hearing my threat and says to me while glaring. "No you won't!"

"oh and why not?"

"because you got a lucky shot in but that's not gonna happen agia-" he tries to say but is interrupted when I punch him in the in the nose knocking him back a few feet. Trent holding his now bloody nose says angrily at me. "I'LL KILL YOU!"

He then takes a swing at me with his right but I block it on the inside like Duncan taught me. I then kick the outside of Trent's left leg, forcing him on his knees and then I punch him in the left eye as hard as I can knock him on his back.

Trent then grabs onto his face and starts crying a bit and complains. "Dammit!"

I then take out my phone and toss it to Bridgette and tell her. "Call the police."

Trent hearing this gets back up on his knees and arms trying to get up and tells me. "No don't do that."

Oh hell no. I think to myself as I kick him in the stomach forcing him back on the ground. Trent then holds his abdomen. "NOW GET OUT OF OUR DORM BEFORE I _KICK_ YOU OUT!"

Trent then starts crawling a bit for the door and then he gets up and fast walks out, leaving his stuff by the door.

"You better run you little bitch!" I yell at him. Oh god that felt great to finally do some ass kicking for a change. I am so pumped up on adrenalin right now UHHH! NO he's gone, now's not the right time for that. I sigh and try to collect myself. I then look at Gwen who is still just barely holding it together. Before I can do anything Bridgette comes up to me and reports. "The police are on their way."

"Good." I tell her. We then both look at Gwen and I then ask. "Are you ok?"

Gwen doesn't respond to me verbally but she does slowly slide down the wall until she's sitting on the ground, she then holds her knees and starts crying. Great.

DPOV

The dean is smiling in his swivel chair at me and says. "Let me get this straight; you want me to use my influence and connections to help get those spoiled daddies boys from getting the boot and in exchange you think that their enabling parents will be so grateful that they will donate to the university."

I nod and say. "Or just straight into your pocket."

"That's a neat little plan you got there but let me ask you this; won't it be suspicious if I do so?"

I counter saying. "You're the Dean of the collage and the dumbasses are you are going to help are from exclusive people. It would suspicious if you didn't."

The dean silently stairs at me but otherwise does nothing. After a few moments of this he gets up and walks over to his window and stairs out of it for a moment. He then says to me while still looking out of his window. "That's an impressive plan but let me ask you something; do you think I'm an idiot?"

I don't give him an answer; there never is a right one when your boss asks you that question. After a few moments in silence he says. "I'll take that as an admission of guilt. I already thought of all that duncan."

That's what I was afraid of. The dean then turns to me and says. "You don't run an illegal fight club and make oodles of cash from it over a decade by being stupid."

After he is done saying that lightning walks behind me and puts a hand on my right shoulder. I look up at him and see that lightning is pointing a taser at my back. I then look back at the dean who is smirking at me just waiting for an excuse for lightning to pull the trigger. The dean then says. "I'm going to be honest; I've don't like you Duncan, never have. I could tolerate you before because you were such a good money maker but after you broke my deal with the mayor I am nothing short of furious at you. Now you waste my time with 'this'. Now let me ask you another question Duncan; Why shouldn't I let lightning shoot you right here with the taser and shock you until it runs out of power, and don't try to talk your way out of this by saying that people will notice your screams. My office is sound proof and I have more than a few ways of getting your out of here and no one would ever know you were here."

I take a deep breath and say calmly. "You wouldn't do that."

"And why not?" he said to me still smirking.

"You need me."

"And why is that."

"If you could stop all of this or just enough of it you would have done so already but you haven't, there's something in your way."

The dean then walks up in front of me and stares me down. He then asks. "If that were true why would I need your help?"

I answer reluctantly. "You've seen my file… my real file you said so yourself. If you know what I can do than you know that I can to it, whatever it is, flawlessly." I then gesture to lighting. "And 'this' is all just a test to make sure the file is not exaggerating."

"What makes you think that?"

"If you thought otherwise you would have just told me to piss off last night when I called your or you would have taised me the second I came in here."

The dean is silent for a moment but then starts chuckling and after another second starts clapping his hands. "You really are what the file says you are."

"That's right I am." I confirm though I wish I wasn't.

"You're not wrong there really is something in my way, or rather someone; Mrs. Fahndung. She's a judge who pulled a lot of strings to be the judge for a few of the frat boys."

"Why?" I ask while gesturing to lighting's hand that is still pointing the taser at me.

The dean gives him a gesture ordering him to stop and lightning does. The dean then says. "A while ago her some josh kept trying to get accepted into the same Frat but kept getting rejected. Eventually he was let in only to be kicked out a few months later. Now the kid's graduated already and has his masters in something I don't care to know but his bitchy mom took pretty big offense to that. Some of the idiots on trial were even in the frat when he was in at the time."

"How can she legally be their judge given the fact her son was in it?" I ask. It's a good question, she's personally involved and legally speaking she can't do that.

The dean answers. "She's not the judge for the one's going to prison but she is going to be the judge for some of the ones who aren't and she will not budge no matter what I do, so I want you to do something about it I don't care what just do it."

"How long do I have?"

"A few weeks until the trail but I want it done as fast as possible Duncan."

"Whats going to happen to the fraternity?" I ask.

The dean smirks at this and tells me. "Don't tell me you actually care about the place."

"I need to know everything I can to make this a success Dean."

The dean relents and says. "Some of the parents have placed their sons at the regular dormitories and others have been relocated to the other smaller fraternities, well those who will accept them as most of the other smaller frats hated the one who caused all this."

"Shocker."

"Yeah and its even less popular now that I've made a new rule as of this morning that there will be no more parties on campus for the rest of the year. Anyone who does will face severe punishment by not only me but also the Vancouver PD."

"Good call." I agree with the basterd, those pricks have been getting by with shit for far too long, and if they hadn't crossed a friend of mine they would have gone on even longer.

"No duh. Is there anything you need from me to complete this?" the dean asks me.

"Just keep your phone on, I'll keep you informed." I tell him as I get out of the conference chair and head to the door.

"Wait." The dean orders and when he does lightning steps in my way. I then turn around and face the dean. The windbag then asks. "Why are you doing this? You couldn't care less about the frat, those idiots inside It or the school. Why are you risking yourself? You some kind of risk junkie?"

I sigh and answer reluctantly. "I'm just trying to get in your good graces man."

The dean is visibly put off by this and states. "That's a surprising answer."

"You're a powerful man dean, you hold all the cards and I have a lot of strikes against me and if I want to stay alive… well it doesn't hurt to be on your good side."

The dean smiles at my answer and says. "Maybe the mayor was right duncan. You are smart, maybe I should listen to you more."

I don't respond to him and just turn around to the door and leave, but not without seeing NFL wannabe giving me the evil eye. Once I'm out of the door and well into the hall way I say to myself. "I gotta go home and take a shower in bleach."

XXX

I'm walking down a hallway in the Vancouver court house and I look at my phone's watch and see that it's almost noon. I can see the judges office from where I am but I see through the windows that she is having a conference with what looks like her son josh. "I'm gonna have to wait." I say out loud.

I then find a waiting bench near the corner of the wall and I pretend to read the magazine that was left there. After a few minutes of this a small group of private school prelaw kids walk by and they don't even notice me.

The reason for that is because I fit right in with the expensive looking black three piece suit and paper boy hat I have on to cover up my hair… and a dark green clip on tie. What the color grew on me. The reason I'm here is because after I left the dean's office I used my lap top to find out that schedule for the judge and I found out that the only time she has off during the day is during lunch. I also found out by asking around that mostly she just eats in her office and looks over case files so that is going to be the only time I will be able to see her and get a meeting.

Once I have that thought I notice that the judge is closing the blinds in her office and so is the guy in there with her but now that I can see his face I can tell that he is not her son josh, but her assistant Justin Iukekini_._

Whenever someone closes the blinds in their office something always goes down. I then get up off the waiting bench and walk over. But when I get there it's too late; all the blinds have been closed. But when has that ever stopped me? I then put my ear against the door and hear the judge say in an all to familure way. "OH _Justin"_

"Ok I have to know whats going on in there." I say quietly out loud. I then take out my lock pick that I always carry around in my right sock. I then look around and notice that there are no people in the hall right now, probably out for lunch. But I do see a security camera that has a great view of my face. But I'm not worried, I have a way of making sure that whats on that tap is useless. I then get down on one knee and start picking the lock. After a few seconds its done and I quietly and slowly open the door just enough to get a look. When I do I see the Judge and her assistant Justin making out and quite hard at that. Oh man this is too good to be true. I think to myself as I take out my phone and take a few pics of them so that both of their faces are shown.

After I have enough picks I look at my phones clock and see that I'm running out of time if I'm gonna make this work. This is great black mail and all but I'm running out of time. I then slowly and quietly shut the door and then I put my phone away and I knock on the door.

I immediately hear something knocked over and a few mumbled voices but after a few moments the door is opened by Justin who asks looking annoyed. "Yes?"

"I need to see the judge."

"Why-" He stops himself after looking at my face for the first time and seeing the scar running down my left cheek. That's why the security camera seeing me doesn't really matter; facial recognition software won't be able to crap, and it's on in a different way than before just in case.

"Is there a problem?" I ask trying desperately not to smirk and I all but scowl at to intimidate him. And by the looks of him it worked.

"N-No there isn't." he stutters.

"I need to see the judge." I state again.

But before Justin can say anything the judge asks. "Why do you need to see me?"

I walk in past Justin and answer. "It has to do with the fraternity fiasco, and I heard that you are the judge for most of the less serious hearings."

"Yes I do but what does that have to do with you" She asks me.

I don't say anything for dramatic suspense, something to through off the assistant, and I say to Justin. "Isn't your lunch break almost up?"

Justin looks at the judge for what to do next who nods to him. Justin then says. "Why yes it is I guess I'll see you later Mrs. Fahndung."

After he said that Justin left the room. After he shut the door the judge almost immediately asked me sourly. "Who are you and why are we having this conversation?"

"My name is Mr. Smith and I'm just a 'concerned citizen'. So how long have you been a judge?"

The judge gives me a look and answers. "I've been a judge for around 15 years."

"And how long have used your latest assistant?"

"Around two years. Now what are you doing here I'm very busy."

I smirk and say. "Oh I'm sure that you are… so I'll be short. How long have you been married?"

The judge is visibly surprised by my question. "I fail to see how my married life is of any concern to you."

"Do you watch the news a lot? Because I sure do especially this one story that always seems to repeat itself. You hear it over and over. The story of the young prelaw, usually a lawyer or maybe and _assistant_ to a judge; young, inexperienced, doing anything she can to get herself ahead… including hooking up with her boss. You hear it all the time. And you know what happens when that gets out? Well usually the young assistant gets off Scott free as just another young innocent victim who was taken advantage of by the older more experienced man. You know some of them actually try to claim that they were molested? Even though we all know that never happened, the balls on those girls.

And you wanna know what happens to the older man in those stories? Well usually they're career gets destroyed, not to mention their married life, and more often than not they get sent to prison.

You hear it all the time; on the news, the newspapers, even Facebook. But what you almost never hear is when it's the other way around. When the young prelaw is actually a young man and the more experienced, married boss is actually a woman. Personally I always thought it was a double standard but when you do hear it its even juicier.

Do you know what happens to those two when the word gets out? Usually for the young man his carrear is destroyed or at very least knocked back a decade but what happens to the woman in this picture… well its pretty much the same as what happens to her male counterpart only she doesn't get sent to prison, which was where the double standard came in. but the upside is her career and her family gets ruined so there's that. To think all anyone needs for that to happen is for ho I don't know someone to anonymously e-mail a picture of them, let's say kissing, to a major news station or newspaper… or they could skip all that and just post them on Facebook and have those nuts take care of all the hard work." I say the last bit while I take out my phone and wave it in front of her.

"it's a good thing pictures like that don't exist right… oh wait they do, and there on my phone. What are the odds of that?"

After my speech the judge just sits there with a blank expression staring at me. After a few seconds of this she asks me. "What do you want?"

"The frat boys that your judging, I want you to do everything you can so that they get off semi lenient. Nothing too much or too little. Have the frat disbanded and shut down and all of the frat boys not getting charged with big boy crimes put on probation and maybe suspension and moved to regular dorms."

"do I have a choice?"

"well ya do but ah… well you're not gonna like the alternative and neither are your family, or anyone else really."

She then says to me none too pleased. "Fine, but those drunk, spoiled, daddies boys deserve much worse than what your making me do."

"And I'm not disagreeing with you sister, It's what my boss wants." I tell her and hey I'm not lying that much.

What I said got the judge's attention who then asks. "Who is your boss?"

I know that telling her would hurt the dean, pretty bad too, but if I give it away too soon and too easy she won't buy it. I'm gonna have to cover for the dean for now. "My employer would like to stay anonymous."

The judge then sits straight up and looks at me right in the eyes and says. "I am one of the most senior judges in all of Vancouver. I can call in favors and dirt that would have half of the Vancouver PD, any layer in Canada and parts of the States at my beck and call by snapping my fingers at any time I want. I can handle any sex scandal your boss can throw at me and still come out on top so if your _employer_ wants me to do this than I will have his name."

Thank you Mrs. Alpha bitch for making this easy. I pause to make it look like I'm trying to think of a way out of this and actually care about what happens to my 'boss'. After a few seconds I answer while looking reluctant. "My employer is the Dean of the Vancouver university."

The judge is a little put of by my answer and asks. "The dean?"

"Yep that's correct." I confirm.

"Christopher McClain the Dean of Vancouver university?"

"Yeah, McClain says that keeping those' daddies boys' from getting expelled would give him major leeway with their rich and influential parents." It takes every ounce of self-control I have not to smirk when I'm telling her this from seeing the anger on her face.

The judge gives a look and says. "That son of a bitch. He has some nerve to reject my son from getting into his school and now this?"

"Yeah… so do we have a deal?" I ask her.

The judge angrily nods and answers. "We do but you tell your boss that he just pissed off someone who he shouldn't have."

I nod and say. "I will."

I then get up out of the chair and make my way to the door but before I can open it the judge threatens. "'Mr. Smith' I know that you're just fallowing orders but if I ever see you or those pictures again I will come after you along with the dean. Is that understood?"

I try desperately not to smirk and I turn back to her and say. "You won't see me again."

I then leave before either of us can do anything else. I then get into the elevator and press the first floor button. Since I'm alone in here I take out my phone and make a call. "Its done, judge will be lenient enough not to raise suspicion. You have your golden ticket with the frat's parents."

"Congratulations on a job well done Duncan. How did you convince her?"

"I can be persuasive when I need to be." I tell him. I can't even give him clues to leverage I have or everything will be shot to hell.

"That you can that you can. Do you miss it Duncan?"

"What are you talking about?"

"'This'. What you just did; black mailing someone in the legal department and a judge no less. Are you really going to tell me that you didn't find it _fun?"_

Once he said that the elevator door opens and I walk out and head straight though the crowd of people for the exit. Once I'm out of the building I ask. "Sorry had to wait until I got out of the building. Now what were you saying?"

"What you did today Duncan how you bent the arm of a judge to do what you want. You must have missed doing it."

I stop moving once he asked me that and after a moment of silence I answer. "No I did not."

"Duncan please, this is the sort of thing you would have considered fun and I believe that is still true. Someone like you duncan, someone like _us_ will never be completely out of the game."

"You and I are nothing alike."

"Oh really?"

"Yes really, and I don't care what you believe this is not something I would have considered fun… at least not anymore."

"Fine have it your way. Now back to business is there anything I should know?"

"The judge is a smart woman so she might've found out I work for you and from what I can tell she is not your biggest fan."

"No she wouldn't be because those stupid idiots that accept students rejected him based on his academic record without looking at who his family was. The judge blames me for that even though I accepted him as soon as I heard about it."

"But what can she do now that I have the mayor in my back pocket, I'm untouchable!"

"You better be for all our sakes."

The dean chuckles at what I said and tells me before he hangs up. "Keep in touch."

"Dick." I say as I put my phone back into my pocket. As I make my way to my car I can only think about how I need to burn this suit and drown myself in purell. At least this day wasn't a total waist of my time and hopefully it was worth the risk I just did. I've completed cleaning up my own mess or at least made it so its well on its way and I did it without hurting anyone. All I had to do was suck up to the dean, black mail a very powerful judge, and save over a dozen spoiled daddies boys from getting the boot. Yeah.

Actually I can live with all that, I really can but what got to me was what the dean said. He was right I did miss it and what I did today scratched an itch I didn't even know I had. But not because what I did was illegal or dangerous, but because I've made the dean a powerful enemy and one that is not _forgiving._ I hope he like that I know I did.

CPOV

"Thank you for your statement ma'am." Said the police officer at our front door.

"No problem. What's gonna happen now?" I ask him.

"We are in the process of apprehending Trent Fosse and once we do it will be up to you if you want to press charges."

I look back at Gwen who is sitting on the couch just staring at nothing and I sigh. I then turn back to the police officer and tell him. "If it was any other situation and if it was anyone else I would have charged him with a lot more but right now we're just going to charge him with assault on Bridgette."

"Are you sure? You could charge him with a lot more." asked the cop.

I nod and answer. "Trent tried to hurt Gwen the most and she's not really up to talking right now so yeah that's all for now."

The cop nods himself and says. "I understand we'll keep you informed."

After the police officer said that he left. I then turn back into my dorm and see that Gwen is still where she was before just staring at nothing and Bridgette is sitting next to her trying to console her. We are all still in our pajamas, we've been so preoccupied that we didn't change yet.

I then walk back to them and I sit in the chair like I did before accrose from them and ask. "You ok Gwen."

Gwen answers on the verge of tears. "No."

"I'm sorry." I tell her ask Bridgette is rubbing her back. Gwen says nothing while holding her knees and looking at the coffee table. After a few moments of this I just come out and say. "I have no clue what to say right now. Uhh this is last night all over again"

What I said makes Bridgette crack a smile and for some reason Gwen chuckles a bit. "Whats so funny?"

"You sounded like duncan for a second there." She said smiling a bit.

"Um how do I sound like duncan?"

"When I first told duncan about my problems with Trent he said he wasn't good at cheering up others either."

"Did duncan try cheering you up last night? Is that when you told him about your problems with Trent?" Bridgette asked.

Gwen lifts up her head and answers. "Yes and no. Duncan did try to cheer me up last night but I first told him about my problems with Trent on the ride to Ihop a few days ago."

"What were the 'problems' with you and Trent? How long have they been going on?" I ask.

"Trent had been getting possessive and abusive… and he cheated on me multiple times. He started about a year ago." Gwen answers reluctantly.

What she said shocks both me and Bridgette. "Why didn't you tell us?"

"I didn't want you to know, I thought I could handle it myself… I didn't want to appear weak." Gwen stated with a few tears running down her face.

When she says this Bridgette opens her mouth to try and say something but nothing comes out. But I know now exactly what to say. "You didn't want to be the victim."

Gwen looks right at me and says. "Yes exactly. How did you know?"

"I know because that's how Alejandro made me feel I just didn't know how to describe it until now."

Gwen still looking at me and now so Is Bridgette asks. "What changed?"

"I got the idea from duncan if you can believe that. Duncan says that being part of the fight club, at least for the fighters, is partly about that; not being the victim."

Bridgette then asks. "Why did you tell duncan and not us? How did he find out about your problems with Trent?"

"Remember that morning when we went to Ihop and how angry I was and why? I kinda blew up at duncan on the ride there and when I did… well you know how smart a guy Duncan is. He figured out that something was wrong and I told him my problems with Trent. After I did he cheered me up by telling me that when he was in high school he had piercings all over and… it made me laugh. Actually getting a piercing was his idea and he said that I would look good with one… do I look good with the piercing?"

"Of course you do." Bridgette said to her. I nodded.

This makes Gwen smile and say while putting her hand over her piercing. "Thanks. Anyway the next day, yesterday, Trent broke up with me at our favorite restaurant-"

"Not Pradjintoes." Bridgette pleased.

"Yeah Pradjintoes." Gwen confirmed. Damn I liked that place it had great food.

"I didn't even get time to order the food. As soon as we sat down he just said he wanted to break up and walked out. He wouldn't even speak to me when I tried talking to him." Gwen continued getting teary eyed.

"That's not like Trent. Usually you can't shut him up." I say. It really isn't the guy WILL NOT STOP TALKING no matter what you do.

"Actually duncan made Trent break up with me that way." Gwen stated with a look I can't really describe.

None the less me and Bridgette are surprised as hell. Bridgette then asks. "Duncan forced Trent to break up with you?"

Gwen nods and answers. "Duncan told me himself though I have no idea how. After crying my eye's out for a few hours I called Harold so he could tell me where duncan was so I could give him a piece of my mind."

"Around what time last night?" I ask.

"Around six or so." She answers.

"huh." It must have been right after I left.

"After yelling at each other I knew that what he did was the right thing and that he did me a favor that spared me a lot of pain and probably a beating from Trent."

What she said causes Bridgette to give her a worried look, hell I'm probably giving one too I just can't tell. Bridgette then asks. "Would Trent have really beat you?"

Gwen then looks at her and says. "After that bitch slap he gave you are you really asking that." Immediately after Gwen said that Bridgette started rubbing the spot Trent hit her. Gwen then continued. "After our shouting match duncan gave me some of his home made food."

"He gave you food?" I ask.

"Yeah but like I said he already had it made he just gave me some of it and also like I said before its amazing you got to try some."

"We will but Gwen please focus." I tell her.

"After that we went for a walk and on that walk we ran across a tattoo and piercing parlor and I made him buy me a piercing. I knew that Trent hated piercings and it was Duncan's fault that we broke up." Gwen reasoned.

"Did it hurt?" Bridgette asked.

"A little but they numbed my mouth before they did it." Gwen said rubbing her new Piercing.

"What happened next?" I ask.

"After that we took a walk in the park where duncan bought us both some ice water and we goofed around a bit. Then I asked him why he didn't wanna be a cop like the rest of his family and he told me his reasons and about his none existent relationship he has with them, specifically his dad."

"Is that why he doesn't want his family to know what he's doing?" Bridgette asked.

"Yeah, after that duncan got an e-vite from Harold and we went to his Dancing robots laser lightshow I told you about. Then when it was over we went back to our dorms while calling each other. The rest you know."

After she explained all that it is silent for a few moments just so I and Bridgette could process all that. Yeah I got nothing. "I don't know how to respond to that."

"Yeah… I kinda wish duncan was here when Trent came. He probably would have beaten Trent within an inch of his life." Gwen said almost looking happy.

"Yeah." Bridgette nods. Bridgette and Gwen just sit where they are silently for a moment until they both look hard at me. Bridgette then asks. "Courtney how did you learn how to do what you did to Trent?"

"uh… duncan taught me." I admitted.

"What, when?" Gwen asked.

"Your remember that night when you guy's saw me and duncan sleeping in my bed? Well that night I kinda lost it when finally couldn't handle all the stress I was under. That night duncan offered to teach me some stuff he learned in the club. He gave me my first lesion yesterday around noon to five thirty. Though I didn't think I'd need it so soon."

"Well it was a good thing you did otherwise it would have been a lot worse." Bridgette states which makes Gwen tense up again. Seeing this Bridgette says. "I'm sorry Gwe-"

"No its ok I just wish I asked for some self-defense classes too."

"We should all get in on the class with the crap that's been going on in our lives lately." I tell them.

"When did our lives get so crazy" asked Bridgette.

"I don't know but you guys did want excitement well now we got it."

"No crap we do, so what happens now?" Gwen asked.

"There is that thing about Trent. What kind of charges do you want filed against him Gwen?" I ask her.

"Uh… I think we should hold up on that until after we talk to duncan what he says. We have no idea how this will affect him and he is the smart guy. He'll know what to do."

"Yeah that's probably true." I agree.

Gwen then turns to Bridgette and says. "Hey I'm sorry about you and Geoff."

"Yeah… its kinda weird though." Bridgette cryptically says with a confused look.

"What do you mean?" I ask.

"On the ride back from Ihop I told Duncan about my problems with Geoff and the frat and the next day it gets raided by the police and Geoff gets arrested. I wonder if Duncan had anything to do with that."

"I don't know. Forcing an abusive guy like Trent is one thing but taking down an entire fraternity is another." I tell her.

"Yeah your right." Bridgette nods.

"Yeah but Duncan also went to a military school, from a cop family, and currently one of the best contestants in Vancouver fight club." Gwen counting off using her fingers.

We are all silent for a minute. I'm trying to process what she told me. No, no he couldn't… could he? But on our date when he told me about how crooks think, he seemed so confident in what he was talking about… maybe-.

I'm cut off by my train of thought when someone knocks on the door. Bridgette gets up to answer and when she gets to the door she looks through the little sigh. She then immediately turns back at us like she saw a ghost and says quietly. "Didn't we get enough crazy ex-boyfriends today?"

"Whats going on Bridgette?" I ask.

"Its Geoff what do I do?" she asks looking scared.

Before either me or Gwen could say anything Geoff says. "Bridgette I heard about what happened with Trent. I came to see if you were alright."

Bridgette is visibly supervised at what he said and stutters. "I-I'm fine Geoff thank you!"

"Bridgette I'm sorry for last night I wanna see if you're ok."

Bridgette then sighs and looks back at me and Gwen. Sure why not? "Gwen you got the cops on speed dial right?"

"Yeah." Gwen confirms while holding our her phone.

"Ok bridge let him in."

Bridgette then turns around and opens the door. When she does she sees Geoff who says awkwardly while waving. "Hi."

"Hi." Bridgette says awkwardly back.

A few moments after she said that Geoff lunges and hugs Bridgette and he says. "I am so sorry Bridgette."

From where I'm sitting Bridgette is a little but off by this but since she's a sucker for hugs she hugs back and breaks down crying a little bit. She then says teary eyed. "I'm glad you came back."

"I never should have left." Geoff said.

"Your damn right you shouldn't have."

"Is there anything I can do to make it up to you?" Geoff asked.

Bridgette breaks the hug and looking right into Geoff's eyes says. "You can give me my promise ring back."

Geoff takes the ring out of his pocket, looks at her, teary eyed himself and asks. "You sure?"

Bridgette takes the ring and puts It on while saying. "Yes I'm sure."

They then hug again like they're in a damn movie. You got to be kidding me. I turn to Gwen and ask. "Do you believe this?"

Gwen shakes her head and says. "And they call you a drama queen."

"Yeah but we should let them have their moment."

"Alright at least someone should be allowed to be happy today." Gwen stated sadly.

"I'm sorry Gwe-."  
>"Its fine, But what are we gonna do now?" Gwen asks.<p>

I think for a second and answer. "We need to find out the whole story."

"Do you wanna see duncan?"

"Not yet, not until we know more."

"You're probably right." Gwen agreed and right after she did Bridgette walked over to us holding hands with Geoff.

I ask her. "How's it going? Did you make up?"

"Yep and ah hey could Geoff stay here?"

_Well that's the end of the chapter I hope you liked it. Over 28 pages long, I have no idea if that's a new record or what but damn I'm tired. Now then a few things to get cleared up. _

_This chapter was obviously about the fallout of what duncan did earlier and how the main characters dealt with it. With duncan trying in his own way to clean up his mess, while simultaneously trying not to go too far. For Courtney's group it was their relationships and either fixing them or breaking them, for good._

_The judge, Mrs. Fahndun. Yeah her name is actually just manhunt in French. French is the second language for Canada and her son josh is obviously based on the host for the show with in the show, celebraty man hunt._

_As you can probably tell I still desperately need a beta. ANYONE WHO WANTS THE JOB HAS GOT IT JUST ASK!_

_There is probably more I'm just too tired to remember it. Please review you know how much us authors like that._

_Quote time_

"Our backs are to the wall. We dropped two games we shouldn't have lost."

David Jordan quotes


	20. Two O

_Hello everybody I'm back and I'm sorry to say with my last chapter for a long time. I'm heading off to boot camp in just a few days and I have no idea when I'll have enough time to write again so this will have to do._

_In this chapter I gotta admit that its been so long since I've written for this story that I've sort forgot how to write the characters so I sorta based this chapter on how the sons of anarchy would have done it. It is how I started this story in the first place. Duncan is going to act like jax everyone else is going to act the same or I tried to make them act the same._

_And a word of warning this chapter will change everything you know about Duncan, about the Dean, just how much they are alike, and how far they are both willing to go. Hope you like it._

_I own nothing enjoy._

**DESPERATION**

**Chapter 20- Two O**

_There is a blonde woman in her early to mid 30's looking over candy bars in the candy aisle of a gas station. She is reaching down to pick a twix. "No mom get a hershey's they're better."_

_The woman turns around and sees a small boy that looks no older than 10 years old. The women asks. "What are you doing here? Go back in the car with your brothers and sister."_

"_But mawwwm I don't want to. The twins are jerks and she just pooed in her diaper. Besides I want to make sure you get the right kind of candy bar for me."_

_The woman frowns at the knowledge of her youngest needing a new diaper and says. "Hey your only getting the candy because you got that A on that test so be grateful."_

"_I am being gratefull, by making sure you get the right one for me."_

_The woman sighs and says. "I spoil you ya know that?"_

"_Can you hurry up mom I really wanna rub the candy bar in the twin's faces."_

_The woman shakes her head with a smile. But then a young man with a ski mask comes into the gas station and up to the front counter._

_The clerk asks. "What can I do for you?"_

_The young man pulls up a small revolver to the clerks face and says. "You can give me all your money."_

_The masked man puts a bag on the counter. The clerk is too paralyzed with fear to do anything and just stares at the gun. at the back of the store the woman and her son have seen everything that happened at the front of the gas station. The woman takes her son and hides him behind one of the aisles. Scared the boy asks. "Mom?"_

_Before the woman can answer the masked man at the front demands. "Are you deaf? Put the money in the bag!"_

_The woman looks at the counter and sees the clerk putting the money from the cash register into the masked mans bag. The woman puts her finger on her lips and says. "Shhh stay here."_

_The woman pulls out her gun and her badge. This scares the boy and the woman knows it. She says. "It will be alright. Just stay here I'll be fine."_

_The boy says nothing and the woman walks up slowly to the top of the aisle with her gun pointing at the masked man. Seeing the woman the clerk stops putting the money into the bag. The masked man angrily asks. "Who said you could stop?"_

_Taking this as her que the woman announces. "Police pu-"_

_The armed masked man panics when she yells this and shoots the clerk in the shoulder in fear before turning around. When he does he is shot in the chest by the woman police officer. But when he is shot the shock of the bullet causes the young masked man's finger to flinch pulling the trigger. BANG… BANG… BANG._

"DUNCAN!" a loud yet slightly muffled feminine voice yells.

Duncan jumps out of bed in a cold sweat and is breathing heavily. "What the hell?"

"Duncan! Open up its courtney." Duncan hears from his front door.

Duncan shakes off the horror from the dream he just had and rushes off to the front door of his dorm. When he gets to it he looks through the peep hole and sees courtney and her group along with Geoff for some reason. Courtney bangs on the door again and says. "Duncan open up."

Duncan sighs and opens the door and asks. "What?"

Courtney is about to retort but sees what duncan looks like and asks. "What happened to you?"

"Had a night mere."

"What about?"

"I don't remember. What are you guys here for at-" he looks at the clock on his kitchen counter. "2 Am?"

Bridgette walks up to duncan and asks. "Hey Duncan can we come in so we can explain?"

Duncan looks at her for a second and notices that, aside from Geoff, she and Courtney and Gwen are in their pajamas. He also notices that Geoff is holding a duffle bag and his back pack. Duncan then looks at Bridgette and sees the right side of her face is red and then duncan turns to courtney. "Yeah come right in."

Duncan opens to door for them and leads them into his mostly empty dorm and to his living room. Duncan goes into his fridge and gets out a protein shake and says. "Make yourself comfortable."

Geoff after seeing Duncan's living room asks. "Hey Duncan man where's the TV?"

"Don't have one." Duncan answered before taking a swig of his drink.

Geoff quite surprised asks. "How do you play your X-Box?"

"Don't have one." Duncan answers nonchalantly at the former frat boy.

Stunned Geoff asks. "How do you live?"

Duncan just stares at Geoff for a moment before turning to Courtney and asking. "Why are all of you here in your pajamas and what happened to you?" Duncan points at Bridgette's face.

Bridgette immediately puts her hand over her slightly swollen and red cheek. Courtney answers. "We'll talk about that later but right now... well do you know about the frat house fiasco?"

"Who doesn't?"

"Yeah well Geoff told us that the frat is being shut down so everyone of the frat boys who aren't getting expelled is trying to find a place to stay."

Duncan too tired to immediately know where this was going says. "Ah ok bu- NO."

Bridgette pleads. "Come on Duncan. Please, Geoff really needs a place to stay and you have two extra rooms."

"Why can't he stay with you guys?"

Courtney answers. "It's a girl only dorm duh. Besides there are only three bed rooms."

"So let him sleep on the couch."

Before the girls can retort Geoff asks. "Duncan come on man. I don't take up that much space. Help a bro out."

Duncan gives Geoff a hard stare for a moment. Intimidating everyone in the room especially Geoff. Duncan walks over to Geoff and asks. "Give us a minute."

Geoff says. "Ahhhh-" He then looks over at Bridgette who nods emphatically for him to do it.

"Ah ok." Geoff says before he walks out the door.

Duncan fallows him and shuts the door. After Duncan comes back into the living room Duncan decrees. "He's not staying here."

"Duncan we know you don't want him here but-"

"No I don't want him here. I don't want any of you here, I never did. I'm not talking about my dorm. I'm talking about my life. You guys remember your lives before you found out about what I do for a living? Imagine how forcing that one needle away from a junkie into my dorm would work out? I know you wanna help him out, I do. But this isn't the way to handle it."

The girls think about what he said for a second and then at each other before Bridgette asks. "What would you have us do Duncan? Geoff can't live with us at our dorm."

"Have him live somewhere else."

Courtney retorts. "No one will take him. Everyone blames him for what happened to the frat so none of the other surviving frat boys will help him out. No other frat will take him either because they think the same thing will happen to them after the dean cracked down. Same thing with regular dorms."

"What about his parents?"

Bridgette informs. "They live in Toronto and have cut him off in every way. I talked to Geoff and until he gets his act together they don't want to even see him again."

Duncan turns away from the girls and says. "Shit."

Bridgette walks up to duncan and says. "Duncan you owe Geoff."

Duncan says nothing but gives her a look that says 'how so'. Bridgette continues. "I know your behind or were involved in what happened in all the recent stuff that happened the last few days; Gwen's break up with Trent, what happened to the frat. Geoff might not know it but the rest of us do, we're not stupid. You owe Geoff Duncan. Don't even try to deny it."

Duncan looks at Bridgette for a moment and she is staring right back at him and not backing down. Duncan takes a deep inhale and then a long exhale. "If I let him stay here you know what might happen to him."

Bridgette nods. "I do."

"Does he know?"

"No."

"Good I don't want him to."

Bridgette and the rest of the girls are confused by what he said. Bridgette asks. "Wait wouldn't it be a good thing to have Geoff know if he's going to be living here?"

"Ok first off I don't know if he'll be living here. I need to talk to the other contestants who are going to the university and we'll put it to a vote. If they say yes then I'll have to run it past the dean too. Geoff's an addict. Don't kid yourself Bridgette. The Dean's not going to like the idea of the moron who almost ruined his legitimate reputation, living with his cash cow. There is no need at the moment to tell him about the underside of this college and the people in it. Even if there was I still don't want him to know.

I'm sorry to tell you this Bridgette but your boyfriend is nothing but some fish in a pod that likes to snack on the bait on hooks. The only reason he hasn't been caught and filleted is because he's had people in his life to keep him from being reeled in. He doesn't anymore. In my line of work its more than easy to get caught up in stuff that will ruin and quite possibly end your life. So before I let him in here I need to know from you Bridgette: if you're ok with him living in that danger?"

Bridgette looks away from duncan and stares off into space in heavy thought. Courtney and Gwen look at each other and at duncan, then at their friend again. They are both thinking that they would not know if they could make that decision and if they feel trapped just thinking about it they can only imagine how their friend is doing.

Bridgette herself doesn't know what to do or say right now. she knows that if Geoff is out in the streets alone and penniless doing god knows what just to take care of himself and possible worsen his addictions. If he's out on the streets even for just his probation time until the trial he would be alone for the majority of that time away from her and around other people just as desperate as him and people who would take advantage of that desperation. Bridgette also knows that Geoff has no real world experience and has always relied on his parents and their money. But with them both gone and the fact that his need for a beer, and narcotics has run his life for the last few years has led him to this and they will continue to do so without her and others help.

If he lives with Duncan he could be exposed to a crime lord who could do things to him that she can't even imagine. But if he does stay with Duncan even for a brief period it will buy her enough time to find a him a place to stay and he will have not only her but duncan looking after him. Helping him off of his addictions and keeping him in line. Both ways look bad but one looks better than the other and there is really only one choice. "Yes Duncan."

Duncan simply nods at her answer as he knows that she has thought about this hard. "Alright."

Duncan walks over to the front door and opens it. When he does he sees Geoff kneeling and listening against the door. Duncan is not worried because the door is all but sound proof thanks to the kind of wood its made out of. "I still need to talk to the residency department of the dorm and see if they're ok with it but as far as tonight goes you can stay."

Geoff stands up and says. "Sweet, thanks bra."

Geoff walks in and when he does Duncan announces. "As for the rest of you, go home and back to bed. We'll talk later ok."

"Thank god." Gwen says relived heading out of the dorm.

Bridgette is right behind her and says. "Yeah I am so tired right now. Bye geoffypoo."

Bridgette walks up to Geoff and gives him a quick kiss before heading out of the door. Courtney walks up to duncan and asks. "Can you belive those two?"

Duncan shakes his head and says. "I am so glad you don't give me crappy pet names."

"Yeahah, bye dunky." Courtney says to duncan before she kisses his cheek and walks out the door smirking at him.

After the girls leave Geoff asks. "Man I am so tired. Hey where do I sleep?"

Duncan shrugs and says. "Anywhere you want."

"Sweet." Geoff says as he goes into one of the bed rooms of the dorm. But when he goes in it he sees that it is completely barren and empty. Geoff leaves that room and goes to the other one and sees that it is empty too. Geoff walks back into the kitchen where duncan is finishing off his protein shake and says. "Hey Duncan man where are the beds?"

"The only bed in this dorm is mine."

"What about your roommates?"

"Don't got roommates."

"How? Everyone's got roommates."

"Well I don't."

"But it's the rules."

"I'm the exception ."

"Why?"

"Its really late and class is starting back up tomorrow . So if you don't mind I'm going back to bed." Duncan says heading back to his room."

"But where am I going to sleep?"

"Like I said before where ever you want."

"But there are no beds."

"So pick a spot on the floor. I'm going back to bed."

Geoff looks around and says like you would expect from someone in the 1%ters. "But- but Awww come on dude how do you not even have a couch."

"I don't have people over much." Duncan yelled from his room.

"Look Geoff there are some towels in the cupboard in the bathroom use them as a blanket or pillow or something. WHATEVER you should have called first! _Just go to sleep."_

"Oh come on."

"I can still kick you out. You know that right?" duncan threatened annoyed.

This makes geoff shut his mouth and go to the bathroom.

XXX

Duncan wakes up from a dreamless sleep because of his alarm clock. Duncan sits up in his bed and shuts it off. When he does he looks at the time which reads 6:30 AM. Duncan gets out of his bed and does some pushups for a few minutes. After he does that he goes into the kitchen fully dressed and sees Geoff curled up in his living room in a sort of nest out of all the towels in the bathroom. Duncan sighs and takes out a granola bar and a small container of orange juice. Duncan takes a bite from his bar and walks over to Geoff. "Wake up."

Geoff only mumbles as he pulls a towel over his head. Duncan getting pretty tired of this kicks Geoff semi hard in the back and hollers. "Wake up!"

Geoff immediately stands up and says in a daze. "I'm up I'm up."

"Good now get dressed its time to go back to class."

"Oh uh right school starts back up today."

"Yeah it does. Hurry up or you'll be late." Duncan said before taking a drink from his juice.

"Right about that… I sorta don't know what class to go to."

Duncan is surprised he is surprised at what Geoff asks. "What were you supposed to major in?"

"Business management."

Duncan shakes his head and says. "Of course you were. Whatever get dressed I gotta make a call."

"Ok." Geoff says as he takes his back pack to the bathroom to change and use the toilet.

Duncan takes out his Iphone and calls Bridgette. Bridgette answers. "Hey_ Duncan how's it going with Geoff?"_

"Your idiot boyfriend doesn't even know what class he's supposed to go to. I'm guessing he hasn't shown up in a while."

"_No he hasn't Duncan."_

"Let me guess he's not passing any of his classes either."

"_Nope."_

"Do you have any idea where he's supposed to go today?"

"_The only time he ever mentioned his classes was when I was nagging him about going to going to them or when he was complaining about my nagging."_

"Do you have any ideas?"

"_Nope."_

Duncan sighs and says. "Call up Harold and have him check on Geoff's schedule. When he's got it have him e-mail it to Geoff."

"_That's a good idea but can Geoff even go to class? Isn't he on probation?"_

"Probation sentencing only happens after the trial and that's I a few weeks. Until then academic schedule is the norm."

"_Ah ok how do you know that?"_

"I looked through the rule book… and courtney."

Duncan can hear Bridgette laugh on the other end and she says. "_I'll go call Harold… and duncan."_

"Yeah?"

"_Thanks for doing this."_

"Hey you kept my secret. I'm just paying you back."

"_Really? Well how about what happened to the frat?"_

"No comment."

"_Come on duncan you're a smart guy. You know I know that you were involved in what happened."_

"I know."

"_I tell you my problems with the frat and the next day its being raided by the police."_

"Yep."

"_Why don't you tell me, Gwen and Courtney what happened?"_

"I think its better that you don't know. That no one knows, but me."

"_Duncan you can trust us."_

"Bridgette I won't tell you what but I took a huge risk doing it."

"_Duncan I understand that but we're your friends and we're in your life now. get used to it."_

Duncan sighs and says. "Bridgette you and your group just come by my dorm today after school is over and we can get stuff straight."

"_Okay Duncan."_

"Good now call Harold, and get Geoff's schedule. We both gotta get to class."

"_Oh my gosh your right I'm already running late. Later duncan." _Bridgette says before she hangs up.

This is going to be a long day. Duncan thinks but then he notices that Geoff isn't back yet and looks around and sees that he's not there and the bathroom's door is closed. Duncan walks over to the bathroom and knocks. "Geoff you still in there?"

Duncan gets no response so he opens the door and when he does he sees Geoff sitting on the toilet with his pants around his ankles and asleep. Duncan sighs. "Geoff wake up."

Geoff continues to snore on the toilet. Duncan annoyed beyond belief right now grabs the shower nozzle, points it at Geoff and turns the shower on. Geoff is hosed in the water and wakes up instantly. "WOWWW Wha- shut it off!"

Duncan does so and says. "Get up, dry off and get dressed."

Geoff pulls up his pants and says. "Ok okay dude no need to get hostel."

"Shut up I'm running late." Duncan says walking out of the bathroom.

Geoff grabs a towel and asks while drying himself off. "OK where am I supposed to go?"

"Bridgette is calling Harold to get your schedule. When she does she'll e-mail it to you and when you get it you'll got to the classes on it."

"Uh ok but what about right now?"

"Don't know, don't care can't stay here though. Just wait for Bridgette at like starbucks or something I don't care."

"Ah ok." Geoff says leaving the bathroom semi dry.

Duncan grabs his back pack and heads to the door with Geoff right behind him with his duffle back but still in his clothes from last night. Walking out of the dorm and into the parking lot Geoff asks. "So D can still crash here?"

"Don't know. I still got to ask the residency department and see if they're ok with it."

"Ah ok but ah-"

"Relax I'll call you."

Getting into the car Duncan says. "I'll drop you off at the college. By that time you should have your schedule."

"Thanks for doing this man."

"Don't thank me, thank Bridgette."

"Uh ok well why are you doing this for Bridgette?"

"I owe her a favor."

Geoff getting suspicious asks. "Really, What did she do for you?"

Thinking fast Duncan answered looking confused. "You don't remember?"

Geoff now really confused asks. "Ah no?"

"No you wouldn't. You were pretty shit faced that night."

"What are you talking about?"

"A few weeks ago me and courtney went on a double date with you and Bridgette at a bar. Thanks to our fake I.D's they let us drink there. After a while I went outside feeling like I was gonna throw up and I did. Anyway eventually they caught on to us and we had to run out of there before the cops showed up. You guys ran down the side walk and I ran into the street. Courtney and you were too shit faced to even notice I was gone but Bridgette was the only one of us semi lucid and came and pulled me back to the side walk before I got run over. I'm kinda surprised you don't remember that."

Geoff s dumbfounded says. "Wow."

"Yeah, it might not seem like much but she probably saved my life that night."

"Dude."

Duncan starts the car and says. "You've got yourself a good woman there Geoff. Don't do anything more to screw it up. She's only my girlfriend's friend but she's my friend too."

"I won't man, I won't." Geoff pleads and Duncan nods before driving off.

XXX

Duncan is in one of the colleges culinary labs in an apron cutting a cucumber on a cutting board. Duncan is also standing next to fellow fight club member DJ who is also in an apron cutting a zucchini. The instructor is at his desk looking at the class. The rest of the students are talking to each other while cutting. Eventually DJ asks. "So any particular reason why you wanted to be next to me today? You know where not supposed to be seen with each other. Its is your rule."

"I know but this is important." Duncan says putting a bell pepper on the cutting board.

"Oh really well what is it?"

"Something happened and I need to talk to you and Owen at lunch today."

"Okaaay but what for?"

"We'll talk about it then ok."

"Ok but I'm assuming its has something to do with work."

"Sort of. I might be getting a roommate."

DJ stops cutting ang turns to Duncan and asks. "What?"

"Yeah I know."

"D."

"Look this wasn't exactly planned but we'll talk about it later."

DJ nods and goes back to cutting while saying. "You better have a good reason."

"Don't I always?"

"Most of the time… but not always."

"Really? Like when?"

"You know when." DJ said harshly but does not stop looking at his cutting board.

Duncan sighs. "That was a mistake."

"Is it a mistake now Duncan? We'll talk at the usual place at lunch."

"Alright." Duncan said while grabbing some cabbage.

"Hey D I heard you got yourself a little group of friends."

"How did you get that little nugget of info?"

"Owen told me after they went to go see him. Weren't you the one who said having friends outside of the club was a bad idea?"

"It wasn't exactly planned."

"Well what is planned? You ar-"

"Now is not the time or the place. We'll talk later."

"Fine you'll explain the little roommate thing and if you don't have a good reason Owen and me will tell the other fighters what you tried to do."

"Alright."

"Alright."

XXX

_Dean McLean a Mr. Harold Mcgrady is here to see you._ said the Dean's secretary.

"Send him in." The dean ordered.

Soon after Harold walks in quite scared. When he comes in he sees the Dean sitting down in swivel chair in a pinstripe navy blue suit. Harold and asks. "Hello?"

The second Harold said that the door is slammed closed by lighting, who is wearing a regular navy blue suit, making Harold almost loose the control of his bowls. Woooow GOSH don't do that!"

Lighting says nothing and just stands there glaring at Harold. This just scares Harold more. The dean asks. "Why don't you sit down young man?"

Harold turns to the dean and sees that he is gesturing to the chair in front of his desk. Harold sits down and asks. "Hello Dean um ah why am I here?"

"Harold Norbert Cheever Doris McGrady V, wow that's quite the long name." The dean said looking at a piece of paper on his desk.

"Uh yeah it is."

"Don't be nervous Harold. Your one of the smartest students in the university. You should be expecting me to call you up here."

Harold gives an awkward smile and says. "Yeahhh ah hah."

The Dean picks up the paper and says. "Its quite impressive. All A's, including computer design, programing, and micro engineering and from what I can tell quite the hacker."

Hearing this Harold squirms in his chair and says. "Well I don't know about tha-"

Lighting grabs Harold's shoulder and shoves him down into the chair. The Dean asks. "What are you plans after collage Harold? Are you gonna work at some large company or work for the government? Both would love to have a guy like you. But how would they react to you being expelled for repeatedly hacking into the collage's computer system's?"

"I didn't do-" lighting stops Harold by pushing harder on his shoulder and taking out his taser and shoves it against Harold's neck.

Harold is paralyzed by fear from this. "Relax its only a taser, not a real gun it won't kill you."

"B-but I have a w-w-weak heart."

This makes the Dean smile. "Well then it might kill you."

"W-Why?"

The Dean says nothing but opens up one of his drawers and takes out a small baseball cap that has a mini camera inside of it. Harold sees this and asks. "H-how did you get that?"

"I've been the Dean of this university for over 15 years and I've seen kids who are exceptionally smart and arrogant. They thought that they were the smartest in the world. It was always hilarious when they found out they weren't. kinda like you right now.

"You see Harold, can I call you Harold? I know what you've been doing in my school. Reputedly hacking into the school's systems, tracking people using their phones, and my personal favorite." The Dean holds up the minicam. "Illegal surveillance." The Dean gives a dramatic pause before dropping the camera on the ground and saying. "Nothing goes on inside of this university without me knowing about it. Now before we go any further you should know that I've erased everything you have that pertains to my 'side business'. Even if you have something else you could use against me, you should know Harold. That I've been the Dean of this college for a long time.

I've got connections in every conceivable enterprise and I have businesses aside from the university so I have both money and people to protect me. You can't say the same and let me tell you something here Harold. If there is one thing I've learned from dealing with desperate people and psycoes its that you can't fight the world alone, no matter who you are."

The Dean gives a gesture to lighting and lighting lets go of Harold. When he does Harold pleads. "Please don't ki-"

"Relax the fun parts over, you know where you stand."

Harold breaths erratically and takes out his inhaler. While he's doing that The Dean says. "Calm down you little runt. I don't want to hurt you. I wanna hire you."

Harold puts his inhaler away and asks. "What?"

"I know that you've been helping Duncan Evans with a whole lot of stuff and I want you… to keep doing it.

"Huh?"

"I know you know about my business and where Duncan stands in it. What you don't know is that Duncan and me have had a bit of a rough patch lately and not too long ago he tried to fix that fence but… I don't want that fence fixed. I want him gone. I want him broken. But I can't just go right out and kill him. He's smart, he's resourceful, and most of all he's connected. Not only do my other race horses like him but he can call in some pretty major players that I would like very much to avoid.

But he never told you about that did he? Don't beat yourself up over it Duncan never tells anyone anything… like the fact that Duncan Evans not even his real name. You have no idea what kind of muscle I had to use to find that little piece of info. Do you wanna know what else I found?"

The look on Harold's face is a mix between horrific fear and focused attention. "Congratulations Harold your hired."

XXX

Inside of a small locked room in a mostly abandoned part of the university Owen and DJ are looking at Duncan. DJ asks. "So D you're going to have a roommate?"

Owen is confused at this and says. "Wait D you said you were never going to have a roommate. You said it was too risky."

"Yeah I did but things have changed."

"So who your bringing in isn't going to be a risk?"

"No he will be, a big one too."

"Then why are you bringing him in?"

"First off I'm not bringing him in. He's just going to be my roommate. Nothing else."

"Still doesn't explain why your taking such a big risk. He could find out about the club and do god knows what."

Duncan gives a loud sigh. "I need his help."

DJ and Owen look at duncan confused. "What?"

Duncan announces. "I'm going after the Dean."

Shocked DJ and Owen respectively ask. "What?"

"Are you Nuts?"

"The Dean has been making a profit off of our blood and pain for too long and hasn't ben giving us nearly enough of a cut. He's sadistic and he doesn't care what happens to us. I'm taking him down."

"D your right he is sadistic but he's also a damn crime lord who can do god knows what to us and our families if we cross him. It's a bad idea D."

"No its not." Duncan says confidently.

Owen says. "D you think you're the first one to try and go after the Dean? There have been others who've tried. You wanna know where they are now? Probably buried in some ditch."

"That was them the dean has never gone against someone like me. Now listen the guy who's gonna be my roommate. His name is Geoff Reichtum. The guy who caused the frat house fiasco. His parents cut him off and won't even speak to him until he gets his shit together. If he lives with me that's exactly what he'll be doing. So when his parents eventually do let him back on I'll have that walking wallet at my back or by then I'll find a way to get to his money if I'll ever need it, either way."

Owen and DJ look at each other for a moment but then Dj asks. "So why are you telling us this?"

Aside from the fact that your two are fellow fight club members who threatened me that if you ever thought I crossed the line you would tell the other fighters what tried to do. I need your trust and support."

"What?"

"D you might wanna take the risk but we don't. We have too much to lose and we have a way out already."

"Hell yeah we have a way out. We told you about the way out. We're the ones who told you about the college, who the dean really was. Only a few more years of this D and then we're done. Out!"

"Do you really think any of us will make it that long? And if we do how do you think we'll end up? We will be broken FOR THE REST OF OUR SHORT LIVES. The Dean will have many more where we came from."

"Whats your plan D? Take out the Dean and the club with him? That's not a win either. Do we have to remind you why we all went to the club in the first place?"

"When the Dean is taken out the club will be run by the fighters. No boss, everyone gets an equal cut. I might have some actual medicare instead of just some crappy ointment."

The second duncan said that he had DJ and Owen's complete and total attention. "What are you talking about?"

Duncan smiles knowing he's got'em. "You know that goth chich that came to 'interview you'? She's going to the med school as a nurse and she owes me a few favors and will be happy to help me. She'll be bringing in real medical supplies. We will have a real doctor not more broken body shit."

"I'm not gonna lie we need that."

"That does sound good."

"Good and they guy who's gonna by my financial support- his girlfriend is trying to be a journalist. So if the Dean comes after us I can use her to expose the Dean."

This shocks Owen and DJ who asks. "You would do that to the club D?"

"No but what I have is a threat in case the Dean ever tries to go after me, or us if you guys are in."

Owen and DJ look at each other for a moment before DJ asks. "What do you need from us Duncan? From what you've told us you've got all the help you need."

Duncan gives Dj a hard look and says. "Its D and no I don't. I'm not even close to ready. I'm still missing some pieces."

"What _D_?"

"I can't tell you everything right now but what I can tell you is that what I need from you are muscle and a couple of guys in the club feeding me intel from the other fighters. I need to know everything I can about the Dean's operations; how many men he's got, what kind of protection, what kind of deals he has going on and with who. I also need someone to help me gain support in the club. I need all the help I can taking him down."

Owen shakes his head for a second and says. "I'm in."

DJ looks at Owen and asks. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah I'm sure. The Dean's been using me in less and less fights and I'm not getting enough money. Pretty soon I won't be able to pay for my insolent. I could die if something doesn't happen, and soon."

DJ pats Owen on his shoulder and says. "Ok I understand."

"What about you DJ, you in?"

DJ hesitates for a moment but answers. "You know D with everything you just said I can't help but notice that a lot of your support comes from the little group that seems to fallow you around like a pack of lost puppies. Don't be surprised D. The club makes you think, about survival. Ever since I've met you and after what you did I've kept an eye on you. And what you said everyone has a role, all but your lawyer girlfriend. If any of this were to come to light I wonder where she would be?"

Duncan gives a deep exhale and says. "I know how it looks-"

"It looks like your manipulating people D! How do I know you're not doing the same to us? Let me ask you this. Did you have anything to do with what happened at the frat house? It's pretty convenient that the guy responsible for it is MR. money bags and will be living at your dorm till his parents decide he can have his stacks of bills back."

"Your right DJ I did have something to do with that. I set him up BECAUSE I NEEDED HIM! I need his money if I'm going to make my plan work!"

DJ is shocked at this and says. "Di don't know if I can trust you. I've only known you for a few months and that was after you beat us up and tried to steal our money, the _clubs_ money. And now your screwing with people's lives and taking advantage of their desperation that _your _caused. Your acting worse than the Dean."

"I don't take pleasure I this."

"It doesn't matter. You're still going farther than he ever did. Why should I join up with you?"

Duncan walks up to DJ and says. "If you don't all you have left is to go back to the slim to none chances of surviving the club and the Dean until you graduate collage years away. We both know it won't end well even if the Dean keeps his word and lets you go."

DJ shakes his head in shock and disgust. "Who are you D?"

Duncan gives a dramatic pause and asks. "Do I have your support?"

DJ gives him a cold hard look and answers. "Yeah you do now if you'll excuse me I have to get back to class."

DJ walks past duncan toward the exit but bumps against Duncan's shoulder as he leaves. After the door shuts Duncan says. "So you got my text about posting yourself on Facebook."

"Yeah I did but how did you know that they would have gone to see me?"

"I knew they'd do it. After I let them find out about the club I knew they'd want to learn everything they could about it. So they would obviously jump at the chance to talk to one of the fighters who's stupid enough to say that he is part of the club on face book." Duncan explains before he takes out a small case from his pocket and hands it to Owen.

"Here's your insolent."

Owen takes it and says. "Thanks D I appreciate it even if your just doing it to get my support."

"I didn't do it for just that."

"Don't give me that nice guy crap D. Even if its genuine. I don't wanna hear it. The money from the club is just enough to pay my bils and since I had to quit my legit job to come to this college when you came to me with a free needle how could I have said no?"

Duncan sighs and asks. "Can I trust you?"

"You're the lesser of two evil's D and your my life line. I have no choice but to trust you."

"Alright." Duncan says as he walks to the exit.

"What are you gonna do now?" Owen asked while taking out the Syringe of insulin.

"Something I'll regret."

XXX

"So its settled. Geoff will be your new roommate and you will be watching him whenever you're not at the club to make sure he gets his shit together until his parents put him back on." The Dean decreed.

"And his girlfriend will keep him busy when I'm at the club." Duncan continued.

"Sounds good but I gotta ask how did you get his girl to follow up on this? Or even let him stay at your place?"

"Geoff's girl owed me a favor. A few weeks back her and Geoff were at a bar. After they had one too many they walked into the street for some reason and I got them out of there just before they got run over. Geoff doesn't remember but his girls sure did. She thinks I saved their lives that night so she trusts me. After what happened to Geoff I knew he didn't have anywhere to go so I told her I had an extra room that Geoff could stay in. So we both could look after the guy."

"Does she know?"

"No she doesn't. all she knows is that I work the night shift at some store at the west side and I can't look after Geoff then. She'll keep him busy enough and clean. She wants him sober as much as we do."

"Good to know but Duncan what were you doing at the bar they were at? You don't look like the drinking type."

"I was trying to bang Geoff's girl's friend."

"Well did you do it?"

Duncan smiles and says. "Turns out she's a Jesus freak. Doesn't believe in sex before marriage."

This makes the Dean chuckle. "Well don't you got the luck."

After a few more chuckles the Dean says. "Now down to new business. Your fighting tomorrow night. Just one on one. No weapons, no extra players, one round. I noticed that you were a little _bruised_ from last time so I'm starting you off easy."

"Alright then." Duncan says getting out of the chair to leave.

Before Duncan gets to the exit the Dean says. "Don't disappoint me duncan."

"It's one guy I can handle it."

"You better, you've got a lot of strikes Duncan. The judge thing only helped a little but not enough. The money you make is the only thing keeping you around and the second that is no longer the case. I'll throw you out… and if you're lucky it won't be in a trash compactor."

Duncan nods and says. "You'll get your money."

After duncan leaves the Dean turns on his computer monitor and sees a map of the building's floor with a red dot heading toward the exit. The Dean takes out his phone and makes a call. "Bring him in."

A few moments later the door opens with lighting pulling in Harold by his arm and shoving him down into the chair Duncan was in not a few minutes ago. "He was like that the entire time. I can't work with him on my ass like that GOSH!"

"You'll work as I say when I say it. How did it go?"

"There are now two bugs in each room in Duncan's dorm. You'll be able to listen in on every word in there."

"Good work, and I especially turning his cell into a tracking device and bug thing. Nice touch. I think you working for me will work out quite nicely."

Harold quite scared asks. "You are going to keep your word right? After you take down Duncan you'll let me go right?"

The dean stands up and walks over to Harold and says. "Oh Harold, no."

"But you said-"

"I say a lot of things."

"But I'm not a criminal. I can't keep doing this."

"Oh of course you're not a criminal Harold. Your my bitch." The Dean then snaps his fingers and when he does lighting grabs Harold by his shirt collar, yanks him out of the chair and shoves him against the wall.

Harold now on the verge of tears from the fear pleads. "Please don't kill me."

The Dean ignores him and says. "And you will do what I say for however long I say it. Harold what I had you do for me today was a federal crime. I could send you away for well… years. Or I could just have my boy here." The dean points to lightning who gets in Harold's face and growls a bit. "Beat you within an inch of your life. Get this straight Harold the only reason your still breathing with your asthmatic lungs is because your useful to me. I will use you for however long I see fit. Let him go."

Lighting drops Harold who lands on the ground on his knees. The Drops a wad of cash in front of Harold and says. "There is your payment now get out. I'll call you if I need anything."

Harold picks up the wad and rushes out the door like his life depended on it. After he leaves lightning asks. "Do you think you can trust him boss?"

"Who can he turn to? Not the cops and he certainly can't go to Duncan. Not after what I told him about who my little green hood really is. Besides he's too scared to try anything."

"What I don't understand is why don't you just let me and chef take care of the bastard. After the beating he took in the last fight we could take him out easy."

"In case you forgot Duncan is my number one money maker and he just disappears before he loses in front of the crowd how do you think that will work out? And besides its not the first time someone's tried to usurp me. The only reason they got so far was because I was so careless to let them. I'm not making that same mistake again. I need to clean house and to do that I need to know who my enemies are. And before today the only person I knew was Duncan but thanks to his little meeting with those two I know I have more. I'm going to let him and heckle and jeckle try to get more of my race horses on his side. That way I'll know who I can trust in the ludus. After I take them out with him no one will ever think of crossing me ever again. No one else will get in the way of my deals or under mind my plans to expand the club."

"What are you plans boss?"

"Don't strain yourself muscle. Just do as your told and you'll get your spot in the CFL and you'll be a football star just like your daddie."

"Alright boss."

"Good now that will be all for today just make sure you and chef are ready for tomorrow' job."

"We're ready boss. We got a few extra guys to go with us and we got the masks and the van."

"Good make sure he gest he message."

XXX

"Yes Geoff Duncan said the residency department will allow you to live with him at his dorm… yes I know its great… no you can't come over yet… because you have home work to be doing that's why… I don't care if its hard you are going to stay at that library until you either have it done or I say you can leave… yeah I love you too buy." Bridgette said before she hung up her phone.

"Ok Geoff should be over there for a few hours so we got time to talk."

"Good. Gwen I heard what happened with Trent. I'm sorry I wish I was there." Duncan said which makes Gwen wince at the memory of what happened.

"Don't be Duncan its not your fault that freak went nuts."

"Still I need to know what happened."

Courtney explains. "Trent came over to our dorm to get his stuff that was in Gwen's room. After he dot it he tried to offer Gwen 'one last chance to get back together'. After Gwen refused he saw that she got piercing and tied to pull it out. Bridgette tried to pull him off of her but Trent bitch slapped her and went back to trying to pull out Gwen's new piercing."

Duncan looks at Bridgette and Gwen and asks. "So how do you still have a lip?

Courtney proudly states. "Because I kicked that musician's ass."

"Wow for real? Good thing I gave you that self-defense lessen that night huh?"

"Yeah and ughh it felt so good to finally kick some ass for a change."

Duncan smirks and says. "That's my girl."

This makes Courtney giggle and blush a bit. But then Bridgette interrupts the flirting and says. "After Courtney made Trent leave we called the cops. We're pressing under an assault charge."

"Wait what? you could have him under a lot more charges than that."

Courtney answers. "We just had him charged with assault on Bridgette because… well Gwen was-"

"I was balling my eyes out." Gwen screams.

"I understand but now you're going to press more charges."

Gwen gives him a confused look and asks. "Are you sure Duncan? The reason I didn't before was because we weren't sure if the police's investigation would have caught on to you."

"Its ok the police aren't going to care what Trent says. All they see is just another abusive guy beating his ex. They won't dig and deeper than that. Tomorrow go to the cops and tell them that you want to press as many charges against Trent as you can."

Courtney says. "Trent's public defender will try to make a deal, probably for a lighter sentence along with a restraining order. Will that be ok Gwen?"

"I don't care anymore I just want him out of my life."

Duncan nods and says. "Alright Gwen Trent won't hurt you again I guarantee it."

"Alright Duncan but you said you forced Trent to break up with me but when Trent was at my dorm yesterday he said that 'scarface' forced him to do it. What was he talking about?"

Duncan a little disappointed asks. "Scareface'? That's an original name. Yeah that was me."

"But you don't have a scar on your face."

"Wait here a minute." Duncan says before he goes to his bathroom. He comes back carrying a silver suit case. He sets it on the kitchen counter and opens it up and shows the girls its contents. "They taught us some basics in espionage in military school. One of those basics was disguises. A scar going diagonally down my face. It draws people's attention from the rest of your face and throws off facial recognition software. After I got into collage I thought I might need a disguise. And I did. This make up is water proof and smear proof. It only comes off with a spray inside of the kit that's a mix between salt water and iodine.

The girls are pretty damn intrigued by the case and what Duncan said. After a few moments of this courtney picks up a small little container of make-up and asks. "What else did they teach you in that military school?"

Duncan chuckles at this and says. "A lot. Listen guys its time for some truth. I was behind what happened in the frat. I broke into the frat house before dawn; I dragged Geoff underneath the fire alarm and gave him the bong I stole from some guy I found passed out in the bathroom."

The girls are shocked at this and Bridgette demands. "What? WHY!"

"The same reason I made Trent break up with Gwen. It was my way of paying you guys back for keeping my secret."

"Duncan you are… INSANE!"

"The frat house was full of rich daddy's boys that could not be touched and wouldn't have listened to anything I said. What I did was the only way to take them down and make them leave you alone Bridgette."

Courtney then says. "But Duncan some of them are going to prison because of that."

"Vancouver PD has been trying to arrest most of those guys for years but thanks to their parent's money always they always found a way out. What I did gave the police a chance where the frat boys had no way out. They committed those crimes I just helped the police know about them."

"But Duncan Geoff almost got expelled, he almost got sent to prison. HE STILL MIGHT! What the hell duncan?"

"I didn't think that would have happened but in retrospect I should have guessed."

"What?" Bridgette demands outraged.

"Bridgette you need to calm down and let me explain."

"EXPLAIN? What you did might send Geoff off to prison!"

Duncan looks to Courtney who puts her hands on Bridgette's left shoulder and arm to try and calm her and says. "Bridgette let Duncan explain. I'm sure he has a good reason."

Bridgette takes a couple of deep breaths to calm down and after a few moments of this says. "Ok Duncan explain."

"After I realized what I did I went to the Dean and I got him to use his connections to reduce sentencing on most of the frat boys who weren't going to prison, Geoff included. I have a guarantee that Geoff's punishment will be light. He will still be enrolled at the university, no jail time."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah I'm sure."

Bridgette takes another deep breath and says. "Duncan I know you tried to help me and I appreciate it but you did it behind my back and almost ruined everything."

"But I didn't. The frat no longer exists, Geoff realizes he has a problem and Trent is out of your life for good. It all worked out."

Bridgette sighs and says. "Just don't' do this ever again."

"I won't have to. Geoff will be living here where I will be making sure he gets his crap together and when I'm not you will."

Bridgette just stares at Duncan for a moment before walking over to Duncan. She hugs him and after a few moments she says. "I'm still mad at you Duncan but thank you."

Duncan hugs back for a second and both Courtney and Gwen are touched by the sight. Soon though they break the hug and Duncan asks. "You guys alright?"

Bridgette nods and Courtney answers. "Yeah we're ok."

Duncan turns to Gwen and asks. "What about you?"

"Ah um I don't really know."

Duncan sighs and says. "Come here."

Gwen is confused and asks. "What?"

Duncan walks up to her and gives her a hug like Bridgette gave him and Gwen quickly returns the hug. Duncan says to her. "He'll never hurt you again."

At first Gwen is put off by what he said but then hugs him even harder and cries a little bit. Bridgette is just as touched as Gwen and Courtney were when she hugged Duncan and Courtney is even more touched.

Eventually like before the hug ends and when it does Gwen says still a little teary eyed. "Thank you Duncan… for everything."

"My pleasure. Ok Gwen, Bridgette go out on the town and have some fun. You deserve it. Courtesy could you stay back for a minute?"

The girls look at each other for a moment but then Courtney says. "I'll meet up with you two later."

Bridgette and Gwen smile at each other and then Gwen says with a smirk. "Have fun."

"If we don't hear from you in an hour I'll have Geoff crash at our dorm for the night." Bridgette said fallowing Gwen out the door.

"Wait why?" courtney asks but the door is shut on her.

"Those two."

"Don't worry about it court I'm sure they're just screwing with you."

"They do like to do that. So what did you want to talk to me about?"

"I wanna say I'm sorry?"

Confused Courtney asks. "What?"

"I'm sorry for getting you involved in all this crap in my life; exposing you to the club and those animals that go to you it. You almost got raped and murdered since knowing me and now I dropped the whole Trent ting and the frat fiasco on you and your friends. I'm sorry."

Courtney sighs and says. "Duncan while its sweet that your apologizing for that there's no need to. True you could have ended our sort of relationship before I found out but I'm the one who intruded into the uglier side of your life. Granted I had no idea what I was getting into, but still. Duncan yes I've been in more danger in my life since I've known you but you've taught me how to fight back. The problem with Trent, he's going to jail. And the frat house fiasco, those dillholes got what they deserved. And Geoff is gonna get his crap together. Duncan you might have a harsh way of doing things but its for the best."

Courtney then walks over to Duncan and gives him a long hard kiss. After the kiss is over Duncan wraps his hands around her and says. "You're awesome."

Courtney smiles and says. "I know."

She then tries to give him another kiss but Duncan backs up before she can and says. "Before we go any further you need to know. I'm going after the dean. I'm going to take him down. It might get hairy so if you want out before then, now's the time."

"I'm not going anywhere Duncan. If anything I want to help you. he's been hurting too many people for too long."

"The Dean won't go down easy, you could get hurt."

"After everything that's happened I'd expect nothing less." Courtney says before kissing Duncan again.

"Let's get that bastard." Courtney said before kissing Duncan again only harder this time.

After the kiss Duncan asks. "How the hell did I wind up with such an amazing girlfriend like you?"

"Dumb luck?" Courtney says as she embraces Duncan.

Duncan embraces her back and says. "Well in my experience, there's a plan in everything. So why not this?"

They kiss again and even harder than before. When they break the kiss Duncan takes off his shirt and Courtney takes off her sweater vest and starts unbuttoning her shirt.

Excited as hell Duncan asks taking off his shoes. "We doing this?"

Courtney answers while unbuttoning more of her shirt. "Yeah we're doing this."

"Sweet." Duncan says taking off his socks and heading for his front door.

"I'll meet you in my room in a sec. I just gotta take care of something."

Courtney giggles and says while heading off to duncan's bed room. "Hurry or I'm starting without you."

Duncan turns around to see if she's serious but all he sees is her taking off her shirt, revealing a frilly white bra and walking into his room. "Awesome." Duncan says as he puts his sock on his outside door knob.

XXX

The dean is looking at his computer screen and listening to the audio feed and says. "Well this is interesting."

_Well that's it everybody. Now I'm sorry to say this but I'm not going to be putting a lot in the authors notes this time. Its late and I want to sleep. So I'm just going to say that I wrote this chapter in third for the simple reason its faster to write. Sorry people. Well I hoped you liked it I know I did. _

"Love comes when manipulation stops; when you think more about the other person than about his or her reactions to you. When you dare to reveal yourself fully. When you dare to be vulnerable."

Dr. Joyce Brothers quotes


	21. Cliff Notes

_Hello everyone good news I'm back on leave and I'm here with a new chapter for you. I've actually been free on leave for a week but it took me this long to go threw all my family and friends so now I finally had some time to write. This chapter is in my opinion not my best work, and to me it feels rushed, well thats because I did rush it, and I apologize for that. But I had little time and I don't know when I'll have time again. So please excuse it._

_As for the story itself, spoiler time! Sorry I know you guys hate them but to me I just love'm. In this chapter you will get monumental insight into Duncan's past, but not every thing just the cliff notes. I know that people don't usually like Harold and for some reason or another felt sorry for him being turned from an annoying yet helpful allie to being Chris McClain's AKA the Dean's bitch. But don't worry he'll be fine... I think. _

_As for the rest you are just going to have to wait and read to fine out. I own nothing, enjoy._

**DESPERATION **

**CHAPTER 21- CLIFF NOTES**

_There is a young man with dark raven hair and ice blue eyes, both of his hands and feet are cuffed and chained to the floor. He is sitting inside of a barred cage in what looks like an empty hall. The young man couldn't be older than 18. The young man is in an orange jump suite and is slouching in his seat looking down on the floor. Out side of the cell there are two police guards standing at each end of the cell. Both have silver badges on their chests and each have their hands on their pistol that is in their holsters on their belts in case they are needed._

_The young man hears that the barred door entrance to the hall opening up. The young man raises his head and sees another group of police walk in, lead by and older looking officer with a gold badge on his chest along with two young officers who have silver badges on their chests._

_The new batch of policemen walk up to the cell door. The golden badged one orders. "Open it."_

_The guards do as they are told and open the locks on each side of the cell door. Once they do that they open the door. Once that is done the golden badged officer says regrettably to the young man. "Well... son. Its time to go."_

_The golden badged officer gestures to the young man's chains. The guards unlock the young man's chain that connects him to the floor of the cell. The guards then each grab the kid by his underarms, lift him up, and walk him inch by chained feet inch. When they get to the exit of the hall the guards stop. The young man is confused and looks around, wondering why they stopped only for the golden badged officer to walk up from behind him to in front of him. When he does he says to the kid. "We are going to escort you out of this building and into an armored transfer truck along with the other convicts, where you will go to county. You'll be there for a few weeks until your transported to your permanent penitentiary."_

_The kid says nothing in response, just staring blankly at nothing... like his spirit got smashed to pieces by a damn sludge hammer. For the older police officer, the one with the golden badge, its almost heart breaking for him to see this kid like this. The golden badged officer asks. "Do you understand?"_

_The young man simply nods and just continues to stare at nothing. The golden badged officer sighs and says. "If it means anything kid. I don't agree with the verdict. A lot of us don't. You don't deserve this."_

_The kid does not respond and just keeps staring into space. The golden badged officer sighs again and says. "Your family is here if you want to see them one last time."_

_For the first time since the golden badged officer walked in the young man notices him. But he does not say anything but stare at the officer for a few moments. Eventually the young man just shakes his head. The golden badged officer is not surprised but asks anyway. "Are you sure?"_

_The young man just nods and says. "Just get me out of here."_

_The golden badged officer sighs and says. "Fine."_

_The officer gestures for the guards to keep moving. Which they do but again, at a ridiculously slow pase thanks to the young man's legs being shackled together. When the young man eventually makes it outside of the building he is placed into a chain gang with the other convicts. All with the same orange jump suit and chains inching their way into the armored transport vehicle. _

_Outside of the building there are a few people there watching this glorified side show. The young man was placed at the very end of the chain gang. Simaler to how the young man was earlier the convicts are just silently inching their way into the armored transport. The young man's outlook has not changed from before as he is just looking own sadly at his chains with his eye's filled with guilt, shame, and frustration._

_After a few minutes and only a few feet of silently glaring at his chains the young man hears a gasp to his side where some of the other convicts' families where standing. The young man turns and sees at the side of the crowd two identical twins who look to be around the age of 22 and are staring at the kid with regret. At the front of the smaller group the young man sees a girl that looked no older than 15 who was looking at the young man with horror and had her hand over her mouth. No doubt she was the one who gasped. At the back of the smaller group of young adults and teen there was a man who looked like an identical yet older version of the kid in the chain gang. The man, like the young adult twins and the teenage girl, had the same natural dark raven hair and ice blue eye's as the convicted young man in the chain gang, only the older man's hair was slightly greying._

_The man was staring down the young man in the chain gang with no clear expression, but that quickly changed to a look of disappointment and then to anger. Soon the man could no longer look at the young man in the chain gang so he turns away and walks back into the crowd out of the young man's line of sight. The twins and the girl turn and see him walking away with looks of confusion and anger on their faces. _

_Anger flairs in the young man in the chain gang who turns back and straight ahead to the convict in front of him only to see the convict step up and walk into armored transport. Before the young man makes the climb he looks back at the small group only to see that the twins and the teenaged girl are still standing there looking at him in sadness but the man is still gone._

_The young man turns back and eagerly if not enthusiastically climbs into the armored transport. The young man sits down at the only available spot and once he does two armed guards step up to the entrance while a third unarmed guard comes into the armored transport and chains all of the convicts to the floor similar to the young man earlier that day._

_Seeing the anger on the young man the two armed guards aim at him, afraid that he'll try something. The young man does not feel fear, similarly the guilt and disappointment he felt earlier is also gone as he is far to angry to feel anything. The young man just glares at the armed police officers until the guard in the armored transport had chained all of the convicts including the kid and hopped out. After which the unarmed guard looks inside of the transport to see if he missed anybody but when he comes to the kid the unarmed guard steps back in fear from the look of rage on the young man's face._

_The unarmed guard just stares back at the angry young man, the armed guards are still aiming their pistols at the young man while the young man himself glares at them. This goes on for few moments until the unarmed guard grabs hold of the door to the transport and... slams the door shut._

Duncan opens his eye's waking up in the bed. Duncan is completely naked along with Courtney who is on top of him and is also naked. The only thing covering the two is an old green and plaid blanket on the bed. Duncan looks at Courtney and sees that she is laying on him (Just like how she does in the show) and is sound a sleep. Duncan uses his one free hand to rub his right eye. After he does that he turns to see the alarm clock and sees that it is at 5:00 AM almost to the dot.

Duncan sighs and shuts his eyes again to try and go back to sleep. But it does not come he just thinks of the dream he just had and how that is the last time he saw them. He then wonders how they are now. The twins have probably already graduated from the academy and gotten their badges and are probably making the family proud. He then thinks how BS is doing and how she should be in her senior year in high school by now. She's probably driving dad nuts. He then thinks about how his dad is... yeah.

Duncan opens his eye's and knows that he's not going back to sleep. Duncan slowly lifts the green and black blanket and gently lifts Courtney off of him. Duncan gets out of the bed and puts the blanket over Courtney who just slept soundly threw it. Duncan now out of bed puts on pair of black stretch pants, his dark green under armor shirt, and his fingerless gloves. Duncan walks out of the dorm and into his car.

When Duncan gets into his car he takes out his phone and tries to send a text but when he does it does not send it. Noticing this Duncan looks and sees that he has no signal. Duncan can't help but openly ask . "What the hell?"

Duncan gets out of the car and goes to the back of his car to check to see if a new bug is there. He does not see any and his phone works fine now. Duncan can't help but say. "Huh."

Duncan shrugs and sits back in his drivers seat of his car and takes his phone out and sees that it has no signal again. Duncan sighs and puts his phone back into his pocket and thinks about how Harold not only put a new but on his car again but now its in his car. He also thinks about how he really needs to have a word with that guy. Duncan starts looking around in the interior of his car for a few seconds but finds nothing. Duncan tries the sun guard on the drivers side and sees that a hole has been cut into it. Duncan reaches in and pulls out a red blinking chip. Duncan says annoyed. "Son of a bitch."

Duncan then things that Harold had to have done this recently, he just doesn't know why. He my be an annoying jackass but he's smart enough not to do this just for kicks. He's got to have a good reason... or I just give the kid too much credit. Regardless Duncan puts the chip back where he found it.

Duncan gets back out of the car to send the text but then he thinks. "Meh, I might as well get a protein shake."

Duncan walks back into his dorm, then into his dorms kitchen. Duncan takes a protein shake out of his fridge and takes a swig. After he does he takes out his phone to send the text again only to see that it has no signal like before. "What? Oh no way he didn't?"

Duncan looks up at his ceiling fan. Duncan sighs and hops up onto the counter to get a better look. When he does he sees a blinking red chip taped onto the back of one of the fins. "He did."

Duncan takes a deep breath and then a deep exhale. He jumps down from the counter. Duncan grabs a stool from the kitchen and walks to one of the empty rooms in his dorm compartment. When he does he sees that he has no signal. Duncan sets the stool down and stands on it and sees that there is a bug on one of the fins of the ceiling fan. Duncan gets down and takes the stool back into the kitchen and leaves it there before making his way to the other rooms and in each one there is no signal. Eventually Duncan makes it to his own room of which Courtney is still soundly sleeping. Duncan quietly checks his phone and there is no signal. Duncan whispers annoyed. "You've got to be kidding me."

when he says that Courtney stirs in the bed and turns over. Duncan sighs and takes out a blank piece of paper and a pen from his desk and writs a note on it and sets it on the desk. After he does Duncan heads back to his car and drives off.

XXX

Duncan parks his car into one of the parking lot spaces of the warehouse. Duncan gets out of the car and when he does he sees a lot of other beat up cars there. Duncan takes out his green hoodie and walks into the warehouse with out having to get past the bouncer or other security guys. There are no guards there this early because 1. usually no one is awake now and 2. no one is expecting a fight until tonight. When Duncan walks he sees the other fighters in the opens space outside of the ring, sparing, hitting punching bags, and other forms of exercise. Duncan knows well everyone there. He's been here long enough to know them and fight them... repeatedly.

But he does see a few stand out. Like Atom and engine block teaching some of the new guys some stuff that will help them in the ring. Its how its works in the ludis. They teach each other since the Dean is too much of a cheap ass to hire anyone to teach them. But whatever it works out, and they get to know and raleigh on each other. Duncan hadn't been part of something like that since he was back in military school. And he's gotta say he kinda missed it. Though not that much.

Duncan the hears someone getting knocked down. Duncan sees that it is Big O and that he is trying to pick himself back up but seems to be struggling. Duncan walks over and when he does he hears DJ say."You okay man? I didn't hit you that hard."

Owen shakes his head and says. "No its not you. I just haven't had my insolent in a while."

DJ says concerned. "Well you should go get it. Where is it?"

Owen says. "I tried calling but D is-"

"Right here... and I have it."

After he said that Duncan takes out a syringe and hands it to Owen who takes it.

Owen then asks. "Dude, I've been trying to call you. Why didn't you answer your phone?"

"I've been having problems with my phone, even this morning it wouldn't send texts." Duncan answers while getting a hard stare from DJ.

DJ asks. "So you buy his insolent now?"

Duncan says while giving a hard stare back. "I have been for a while, what of it?"

DJ remembering the meeting they had yesterday asks disgusted. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

Duncan rolls his eyes. "I'm desperate, we all are. So get off my ass. Now on to business. What about the other fights? Have you asked any of them yet?"

Owen stands up with the syringe in his hand and says. "Dude its been one day. We were gonna talk to them this morning."

"Um okay, good. But out of the guys here who do you think we can trust?"

Owen explains. "Well Atom for sure we can't. He's a nice and loyal enough guy but he won't risk anything that might ruin things for him here. We offered him a beer last week and he turned us down saying he couldn't risk getting a DUI."

"Anyone else we can't trust?"

DJ says. "Lighting obviously."

Duncan chuckles. "Yeah obviously."

"Aside from those two who knows with the vets, but I think that noisy boy, and trucker will be in our corner. But the new guys are too green. They don't know how things work here or how bad the Dean is. They'd pick keeping a job here over of getting a new boss."

"Stick with the devil you know." Duncan states.

Owen nods and DJ says. "Yep."

"What about the security guys?"

DJ explains. "Its on the fence with them. They still get treated like crap by the Dean and hate him almost as much as we do. But we get paid more than they do on top of the fact that we can kick their ass's and they know. It could go either way with them."

Duncan sighs. "I was afraid of that. But I need a few of them on my side. They'll know things we won't."

Owen shakes his head and asks. "What do you want from us man? They are told from day one not to 'mingle' mingle with us."

Hearing this Duncan sighs again and is silent for a few moments. In those moments he see's Eva beating the utter crap out of one of the punching bags. Duncan while staring at her says. "Hey isn't Eva's brother a security guy?"

Owen shakes his head frantically and says. "Say no-n-n-no."

"You want to bring her in?"

"And her brother."

Once he says this he hears them both grown. "Hey we need her and her brother. Eva is _the_ most aggressive fighter and her brother's been her long enough to know some stuff."

After hearing this DJ walks up to Duncan and says. "Yeah but uh D Eva is a rageaholic wacko, and we know nothing about her brother."

Duncan nods. "Still we need her."

DJ sighs and Owen says. "I ain't going near her."

"You won't, I will. Someone like her, she'd be insulted if it was anyone else but me."

"You sure D? She don't like you very much."

"She doesn't like anyone. While I do this you go give yourself the shot Owen. DJ you ask around."

Owen puts the syring in his pocket and nods before walking off. DJ just stands there and chooses to not look at Duncan. Duncan sighs and orders. "Just do it."

DJ says nothing but goes and walks off to where engine block and noisy boy are. Duncan himself walks over to where the rageaholic Eva is and hopefully if he gets there in time will save that poor punching bag from getting ripped open.

When Duncan gets over there he sees Eva enthusiastically, if not horrifyingly punching into the bag with an angry expression on her face. Duncan just silently stands there for a few moments waiting for Eva to to notice him and stop. But she either does notice him and just ignores him or is just too focused on the bag to even notice he's there. After a few moments Duncan says while she's still punching. "I know a few doctors and they tell me to watch my blood pressure or I'll have heart problems in the future."

Eva punches the bag harder than before and then stops punching it completely. After that she picks up her little towel and while wiping off her sweat says. "Well that's you not me. What the hell do you want, dick hood?"

"What the hell is your problem?"

Eva gets right in Duncan's face. "My problem is that I'm trying to have a good workout but this prick keeps bothering me!"

Duncan just stares back at her refusing to be intimidated. After a few moments of neither backing down Duncan sighs, take a step back and say while he takes out the extra protein shake he had in his pocket and tosses it to her. "Here's a protein shake, sorry for bothering you."

Eva grabs it and looks at it for a moment but then open it and takes a swig of it. After she does she asks "What do you want D? Your ruining my gym time."

Duncan is silent for a moment trying to fill the moment with suspense but is just pissing off Eva. Duncan bluntly states. "Some of the security guards are trying to fix the fights so they can get more money from their bets."

Eva looks at him confused and asks. "How could you know that? My brothers a guard and even I don't know that."

"Well maybe he's lying to you?"

"Oh he's not lying to me!"

"How do you know?"

"Because if he did I'd kick his ass."

Duncan just nods and says. "Okay. Anyway can you get your brother to give you the names of the jackass's who are trying to rig the fights and can you give those names to me?"

"Why would I do that for you?"

"Because I want to kick their ass's too. I'm not gonna let you have all the fun."

"Screw off. I'll get those names and if I feel like I I'll give them to you. Now piss off so I can beat the crap out of this punching bag."

"Okay." Duncan states before walking off with a smile on his face.

XXX

At the girls dorm Gwen and Bridgette have just gotten out of their PJ's and have gotten into their day clothes and are in their kitchen. Bridgette is eating a bowl of cereal and looks over at Gwen and sees that she is even mopier than usual. Bridgette asks. "You okay?"

"I'm doing better. How are you doing?"

Bridgette shrugs. "I can't complain."

"Okay, where's Geoff?"

Bridgette looks around and then sighs. "He's probably still sleeping."

"You wanna wake him up?"

"Yeah, I should but no matter what I do nothing works. I don't know how Duncan got him up yesterday."

"Too bad Courtney isn't here she'd have him up in no time."

"Yeah and speaking of, how do you think her night with Duncan went?"

The second Bridgette asked that the front door is opened and Courtney herself walks in looking kinda like she did last night only a little different. Courtney had Frizzled hair, she was holding her sweater vest in her hand instead of wearing it, the top two buttons on her shirt were unbuttoned showing a little bit of cleavage. After she walks in she shuts the door and she stretches. "Hiiiiihhaaa. How are you guys doing?"

Gwen and Bridgette look at each other for a moment before looking back to Courtney with smiles on their faces. Gwen states. "Looks like you had a good night."

Courtney walks over to the coffee maker and says while smiling not even trying to deny it. "Oh _yeah_ I had a good night."

Just then both Courtney and Gwen hear a snap shot sound and look to see that Bridgette has her phone out, with a smile on her face and had it pointing at Courtney. Courtney a little annoyed asks. "Bridgette?"

"What? You'll thank me for this." Bridgette says before she takes a few more picks.

Courtney pleads. "No! I look like crap."

Gwen says while looking into Bridgette's phone. "Hey the worse the morning, the better night you had."

Courtney scoffs and goes back to her coffee. Having got enough pictures on her phone Bridgette puts it back into her pocket and says to her friend. "Hey if you didn't want to get teased than you shouldn't have come back this morning."

After poring herself a cup of coffee says. "I had to. I left all of my stuff for school and the office here, And I need to change. The two buttons on my shirt popped off last night when I was trying to take it off... I-I said too much didn't I?"

Bridgette and Gwen still smiling say respectively. "Oh no you didn't."

"Keep talking."

Courtney shakes her head in annoyance at her two best friends. "Oh I think I'm done, for now."

"Yeah okay, for now."

Bridgette chuckles at Gwen's comment. Courtney having enough of this conversation, says. "Whatever I'm gonna go take a shower before I get ready."

Once Courtney said that Bridgette runs up to Courtney and asks. "Courtney before you do that would you mind waking up Geoff?"

"What?" Courtney asks both annoyed and confused.

Seeing this Bridgette awkwardly explains. "Since we told Geoff not to seep over at Duncan's last night... we let him sleep here and now no matter what I do he won't wake up. But since your... you know, you. I thought that you know..."

Courtney groans. "Fine, but hold this."

Courtney hands Bridgette her coffee. Courtney walks into the kitchen and grabs a cup off the counter, takes it to the sink and fills it with water. Courtney goes back to Bridgette and asks. "Where is he? I didn't see him on the couch."

Before Bridgette can say anything Gwen interjects. "He slept in her room. I hardly got ay sleep last night."

Bridgette practically glares at Gwen as her cheeks flair up. Gwen can only smile smugly in return. Seeing how her two friends are Courtney sighs. "Relax Bridge. I'm not judging."

Both Gwen and Bridgette stare at Courtney in surprise. Bridgette asks. "Really? Thats a first."

Courtney slightly embarrassed says. "Yeah well, its kinda hard to judge without sounding like a hypocrite and to be honest after last night I don't know why I would ever care."

Bridgette can't help but laugh at this and say. "Wow, We should have gotten you laid sooner."

Gwen laughs at Bridgette's comment agreeing which just annoys Courtney further. "Yeah whatever."

Courtney walks off to Bridgette's room. When she does she sees Geoff shirtless in Bridgette's bed with only Bridgette's baby blue blankets covering him from the waist down. Courtney sighs relieved that she didn't have to walk in on a completely naked Geoff... again. Courtney even more annoyed having had to think about that says to the unconscious boyfriend of her best friend. "Geoff if you get up no I won't dump this water on you."

Geoff just continues to snore in the bed. "Okay, I waned you."

Courtney then proceeds to dump her cup of cold water on the former frat boy. Geoff wakes up immediately sitting up in the bed. "W-what the hell?!"

"Shut up! Its morning and its almost time to go to class. Get up, get dressed, get your crap, and get in the car." Courtney orders leaning forward with her hands on her hips unknowingly giving Geoff an excellent view of her rarely seen cleavage.

Though Geoff is oblivious as he just rubs his eye's confused. "What?"

Courtney's annoyance turns into frustration. "I will dump more water on you."

Geoff replies frantically. "Okay, okay, okay."

Geoff tries to get up and out of the bed. Seeing this Courtney yells while putting her left hand over her eye's. "Not right now you idiot! Wait until I leave the room."

Geoff slumps back into the bed. "Okay, sorry bra."

Geoff finally awake enough to think and actually mind his surroundings. He looks at Courtney and sees the state she is in especially her chest. "Looks like you and Duncan had fun last night."

Courtney puts down her hand and sees that Geoff is looking _not _at her eye's. Courtney covers her chest with her hands threatens. "You know I _can _throw you out of here anytime I want."

Geoff immediately looks away. "Sorry, sorry. Geez your even worse than Duncan." 

Courtney turns around and says while walking out. "Damn right, and don't you forget it!"

Courtney walks back into the kitchen. "Hey Bridge your boyfriend's a total perve so when I take a shower make sure that he doesn't peek."

Bridgette in bewilderment says. "Ah okay."

"Good." Courtney replies as she makes her way to the bathroom. But before she can so much as make five steps Gwen's phone starts ringing. Gwen takes it out of her pocket and looks at the collar ID. Gwen worried says. "Its Trent's lawyer."

XXX

In the abandoned classroom that is now used for storage Duncan is leaning against the far wall. He takes out his phone and sees that he has no signal. Duncan looks around and sees that one of the chips is poorly hidden behind one of the books on the desk which he is standing next to. The chip itself is in between a large cardboard box and a few obsolete text books.

Soon the door opens up with DJ and Owen walk in. Seeing them Duncan slowly puts his phone away. Seeing this DJ asks suspicious. "Texting somebody?"

"Can't, no signal. Just checking the time."

hearing this both Owen and DJ take out their phones to check and see that Duncan is telling the truth. Owen says while waving his phone around. "Thats weird. It was working here yesterday."

Duncan just shrugs. "Whatever, what do you got for me?"

Both Owen and DJ put their phones away. DJ folds his arms and explains. "Not many have agreed yet, they're still thinking about it."

Owen interjects. "A lot of them are scared of the Dean. They don't think that you could win. Hell we don't."

"Your gonna need something big and something loud to change their minds, and our minds too D." DJ said giving Duncan a dirty look.

Duncan sighs. "You guys really don't think I can pull this off?"

Owen shakes his head and DJ says. "D we've both been here a lot longer than you and unlike you we actually talk to the other fighters when we don't just need something. This has been tried before and it gets worse every time... for everybody. You've gotta prove that your different, or you'll be alone in this... _completely_ alone. And soon too."

"How soon?"

"I don't know, just soon. Now we have to get back to class." DJ says as he exits the door leaving both Owen just sitting there on a cardboard box and Duncan leaning on the far wall.

Duncan sighs. "So no one is willing to join up?"

Owen turns to Duncan and says. "Its only been a couple of hours and this is a pretty big decision, but yeah. No one automatically said yes. And D you might have my help but if you didn't give that insulin I wouldn't be helping you with this.

Duncan says nothing and just stands there giving a hard stare at Owen who responds. "D we don't know you. Not really. We don't know who you are, where you came from. We only know that you can fight and are good at stealing stuff, and... your frigging scary. The Dean, him we know. We know what he can do and how he'll do it. You want to get anyone's support aside from giving them life saving medicine, and threatening them? You gotta do something that will make the Dean really upset and walk away from it."

Duncan continues to just stare hard at nothing in particular, thinking hard at what has just been said to him. After a few moments Duncan asks. "Did you think up all that yourself?"

Owen answers. "Um, ever since I've joined the club I've been watching a lot of crime shows and movies."

XXX

Courtney is reading a book on the far right side of a bench while Bridgette is sitting on the far left on her phone just going threw random sites on the internet. Courtney looks monumentally better than before she did, as her hair is not a tattered mess and she is in a different yet identical outfit as the one she wore yesterday only a different color. Bridgette looks about the same as she did earlier. Eventually Gwen walks out of the courthouse that the duo are sitting in front of.

When she does Courtney asks. "Gwen, how'd it go?"

Gwen slumps down depressed, in the middle of her two friends and says. "Trent's public defender tried to make a deal."

"What did you do?" Courtney asked.

"My lawyer wanted to keep the charges but said if I did take the deal I'd have to go to court, and I didn't want to do that. So I took the deal. Trent will now spend six months at county with a year of community service on top of a one mile restraining order from me for the next 10 years."

Courtney nods pleasantly surprised. "All and all thats a pretty good deal Gwen."

Gwen sighs and slumps even further into the bench. She covers her eyes to help hold back the tears and starts whimpering. "Yeah I guess.

This only lasts a second as she whips her head back up, took a deep breath and exhale. Gwen then just stares forward with red puffy eye's. Seeing this Bridgette asks. "Are you okay Gwen?"

"I-I don't know."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"W-what the hell happened to Trent?"

Courtney is silent as she has no possible helpful response to that. After a few moments Gwen turns to Courtney. "Thanks for the lawyer you recommended me Courtney."

"Oh no problem. Her firm hires out at the university. I see her a lot at the main office building. She's good."

"Thanks for coming you two. It meant a lot."

"Happy to." Bridgette says with Courtney nodding.

"Hey don't you have work and class today?"

"I have work in two hours." Courtney explained.

"I took a sick day. We had to be here for you." Bridgette also explained.

"Thanks." Gwen said melancholic as she went back to just staring at nothing. After a few moments of this horrible silence. Bridgette asks off handedly. "So Courtney is Duncan a spooner?"

What she said gets both Gwen out of her deep state of depression and into confusion with Courtney. Courtney asks. "What? Why are you asking that now?"

"We need something to lighten the damn mood, so I ask again. Is Duncan a spooner?"

Courtney rolls her eye's. "Well if you must know, yes. Duncan is a bit of a spooner."

What she said makes both Bridgette laugh and Gwen giggle a bit. Courtney now suspiciously said quietly. "...Until he falls a sleep."

Gwen asks. "What happens after he falls asleep?"

"Ah he sorta just kept tossing and turning all night. I think he was having a nightmare. I'm kinda surprised I got any sleep last night... you know aside from what we did."

Bridgette asks curious. "How bad was it?"

"I don't know. But it didn't seem to be anything violent. All I got out of it was a mumbled _'go screw yourself dad'_."

Bridgette even more curious simply says. "Huh."

"Duncan did say that his dad was a dick."

Courtney confused asks. "He said that? When?"

Gwen shrugs. "The day he made Trent break up with me. When me and him had that out'ing thing I guess. We sat down at the park and he started talking to me to try and cheer me up. It worked but eventually we started talking about his family. I don't know how but we did. Duncan said that after his mom died his dad became distant and hard."

Bridgette shocked and a little saddened asks. "His mom's dead?"

Gwen sadly nods. "Thats what he said. He also said that he's got two brothers and a sister."

Hearing this Bridgette turns to Courtney but sees that Courtney is just as lost as she is at this new information. This is not unnoticed by Gwen who also sees that Courtney is as confused as anyone trying to figure out an M. Night Shyamalan plot. It is then silent between the trio before Gwen asks to Courtney. "You don't know much about him do you.

Courtney slowly shakes her head and says sadly at their shared realization. "I don't think any of us do."

XXX

In a crowd of people on a side walks in a street that is filled with fast food restorants ranging from Burger king to KFC to even Lou Ming's Duncan is walking threw them with his hood up. He is on his phone which has a google map of the street his is on. On that map is a blinking red dot straight ahead of him. Duncan looks up from his phone and sees his target. A skinny Red headed person with glasses and a hamburger T shirt walking out a subway with a six inch meatball sub in his hand and further down the street. Duncan fallows him further and further until Harold is far enough away from enough people and turns a corner. When he does Harold takes a bite out of his sub but the second he starts chewing Someone grabs him by his shirt collar and yanks him into an alley.

Harold outraged demands while struggling. "Let me go or I'm calling the cops!"

Duncan greatly annoyed demands himself. "Shut up!"

Harold recognizing the voice of the guy who's pulling him asks. "Duncan? What the hell are you doing?"

Duncan stops pulling Harold and pushes him down on the ground behind a dumpster where it is hard for witnesses to see and hear. Harold lands on his knees and when he does he smushes his meatball sub in the grim on the ground. Harold looking at his wasted meal wines. "Duncan! Your ruined my sub."

Duncan angry now, grabs Harold by his shirt and yanks him up off the ground and asks horrifyingly calm. "Forget the sub. What the hell are your doing Harold?"

"Ah, um-"

"Don't even try lying to me. I _will_ know. Because I lie, professionally."

Harold hearing this breaks out of his fearful stupor and glares at Duncan. "Yeah I know. I know who you are _D_. The Dean _told_ me who you are."

Duncan glares right back at Harold hearing this with neither backing down. After a few moments of this Duncan notices that Harold is just barely holding in the contents of his bladder. Duncan knows he can't stay like this and trying to intimidate Harold won't help, so Duncan sighs and lets Harold go. Harold lands on his ass and after he does he tries for a few seconds to breath normally before his lungs force him to start taking deep breaths. Harold pulls out his inhaler and uses it. Duncan feeling no pity, just regret asks. "What did he tell you?"

Harold after about a minute of taking deep breaths and calming down answers. "A lot."

"You know he just told you a pile of crap right?"

Harold gets back on his feet and scoffs. "I'm not stupid Duncan! I know that."

"So why are you working for him? Is it because you think I'm the bad guy?"

Harold very emotionally, almost on a nervous break down shouts. "I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU ARE! I don't want anything to do with this. But thanks to you that sociopath found out about me and has me freak'n working for him. He threatened me with a tazer Duncan. Even after I told him about my heart condition. He would have KILLED ME."

Harold starts breaking down after saying this and sits back down on the disgusting garbage covered ground holding his head. "I don't know what to do."

Duncan is silent for a moment before asking. "Why didn't you just go to the police. You obviously don't owe me or the Dean anything."

"I can't because The Dean knows about my hacking and-an-an-"

"Your illegal surveillance stuff."

Harold shamefully nods. "Yeah."

It is silent between them for a while with neither saying anything. Duncan stares at the helpless computer geek, while Harold just stares blankly forward looking at nothing at all. Eventually Duncan asks. "Why did the Dean have you bug my car and my dorm?"

Harold looks at Duncan and answers. "The Dean wants you gone Duncan. And I mean gone! But to do that he needs to know if there is anything he can use on you. So he had me bug them."

Duncan says nothing in response just continues to horrifyingly stare at Harold. Harold trying to ignore him continues. "The Dean also had me hack into your phone yesterday so we heard everything you said today and yesterday with those guys."

Duncan stops staring at Harold and slowly looks to the side without blinking, realizing what the Dean wants. "He wants to clean house."

"Yeah, but who knows what he's gonna do. Who know what he's up to? Oh god he's gonna kill me. Ah nnnahhhh!" Harold screams as he starts sobbing.

Seeing this Duncan sighs, shakes his head and kneels down to Harold's level. "Hey, HEY! Relax its gonna be fine."

"FINE?! The Dean is a figg'n psychopath. How is that fine?"

"Because I'm offering you a way out."

Harold stops sobbing and asks. "What? How?"

"Because when I win and there is no more Dean. I'll let you go."

Harold looks at Duncan for a moment in bewilderment and yells angrily. "Win? Duncan the Dean has money, people, gah-gah- Freaking guns!How the hell can you win?!"

Duncan gives no response and just stares at Harold silently.

XXX

Duncan is in his leather jacket with his green hoodie under it. He's walking down the side walk looking down at his phone which like before has a map on it showing the street he is on and the other near by streets. Also like before the map shows a large red blinking dot is coming right for him from down the road the sidewalk he is on is right next to. Duncan turns to look at the window of the building he is next to and sees in the reflection a white windowless van is coming up the street In the traffic. Duncan keeps walking down the street nonchalantly in the same direction, and pace as before while still looking at his phone. When the dot is right next to him Duncan puts his phone away, turns around and sees that the van stopping. When it does the van's door's immediately open up and three guys with ski masks and gloves jump out. Two of them grab Duncan's arms to keep him there. Duncan tries to resist but its no use. The third one takes out a black bag and puts it over Duncan's head. The bad man orders. "Come on!"

The two who have Duncan do as ordered and pull Duncan into the van. Once inside of the van Duncan resists even more as the bag man shuts the door. The driver takes off while people around the fiasco are confused at what is going on and some of them are on their phones calling the police and recording it.

Speeding down the road, in the van Duncan is adamantly trying to break free, tugging and shoving, trying to resist as hard as he can. Incidentally while trying to break free Duncan jabs his elbow into the nose of one of the guys who are restraining him. The same guy while still holding down Duncan threatens. "Knock it off asshole!"

Hearing this the driver and the leader of this group orders. "Take care of this."

Heeding the order the bag man goes back to Duncan in back and punches him as hard as he can in the face. When he does Duncan stops struggling and goes limp. Seeing this the bag man clarifies. "He's out."

"Thats good. Cuff him." The driver orders.

The bag guy pulls out a zip cuff from his hoodie pocket and gives a gesture to the other masked men who are holding Duncan. The masked men take Duncan's hands and put them together behind his back for the bag man to zip cuff Duncan. Which he does and after word confirms. "Done."

"Good. We'll be there soon and trust me you don't want him not cuffed." The driver says.

The bag man simply nods as he climbs up to the front seat and sits in the passengers seat. While the bag man does and the other masked men just sit in their seats Duncan is lying down on his side, slowly and silently shimmies and struggles in his cuffs.

XXX

The driver takes a hard right before he exclaims. "We're here."

Duncan feels the van stopping. When he does he also feels the two masked men who are sitting next to him grab his arms again and hoist him up. The van doors then open. Duncan hears the driver say. "Get him out of the van."

The two pull him out of the van and out to what Duncan feels like 20 feet. The Driver not far behind them orders. "Thats far enough, get him oh his knees."

The masked men stop dragging Duncan and drop him on his knees. After that Duncan hears nothing and in those silent moments he continues to shimmy his hands in his zip cuffs. Then abruptly the bag on Duncan's head is ripped off. When it is Duncan sees that he is in an abandoned parking lot and the surrounding buildings all have condemned signs on them. Duncan also sees the four masked men wearing ski masks but now two of them have base ball bats. Duncan still on his knees sees that the larger one is walking up to him. He stands in front of Duncan for a few silent moments before asking. "Nothing to say?"

Duncan says nothing and just glares at the large masked man in front of him for a few seconds. "Nothing needs to be said Hatchet."

The leading man is put off by this but then sighs and takes off the ski mask to show that it is indeed the old army man Hatchet. The Dean's enforcer who's face is still badly bruised from when Duncan punched him earlier. Once he does Hatchet says. "The Dean wants us to beat you within and inch of your life. So when you fight tonight you'll lose, so we can finally throw you out. But me, I just want some pay back from when you sucker punched me-"

"Just shut up Hatchet." Duncan begs still on his knees. Seeing how Duncan simply refuses to be intimidated by him. Hatchet is enraged and kicks Duncan square in the chest with his boot. Knocking Duncan on his back and the wind out of him.

Hatchet walks over to Duncan and when he does he gets down on his knees. "I'm gonna enjoy this."

Hatchet then starts viciously punching Duncan in the face. After a few of the salvo's Duncan finally manages to slip his hands free of the cuff and when he does he punches Hatchet right in the face as hard as he can, knocking him on his back. Duncan angrily jumps off of the ground and onto hatchet and starts punching him with even more brutality than Hatchet was punching him not 20 seconds earlier. Hatchet was not ready for Duncan's assaults and can barely try and block Duncan's fists.

Seeing this the masked men that were with hatchet start rushing toward the two. When they get close enough Duncan flips over himself and hatchet over, and hurls hatchet onto two of the masked men, knocking all three of them down. The one masked man who is untouched stops running toward Duncan and stops to look at the rest of his group who are trying to pick themselves up.

Seeing the last masked man's hesitation Duncan charges at him and starts beating him, menacingly so. Seeing Duncan beating one of his men Hatchet shoves the other two in Duncan's direction. The two masked men look at hatchet who gives them a dirty look. The masked men look at each other before charging at Duncan and help their gangmate. But by the time they got there Duncan had savagely beaten their friend and was ready for them.

The two masked men fight Duncan... well fighting wouldn't be the right word as they are both losing badly, and I mean _badly._ In the fight Duncan chooses not to use the bat of the masked man he defeated before, as he does not need it. In the fight he is having now with the other two masked men Duncan is not holding back as he would in the ring at the club. Duncan is using everything he knows and has learned in all of his violent life on these hapless henchmen.

Seeing at how Duncan is savagely beating his men Hatchet stands up and staggers over to his van to try and escape. Duncan who is all but done with the two masked men see that hatchet is rushing to his van, rushes toward him to try and stop him. Hatchet who has made it to the van opens up the drivers side door and reaches into the glove compartment and grabs something, but the second he does he is pulled by the back of his hoodie by Duncan and yanked away from the van and on to the dirty asphalt.

Duncan rushes over to Hatchet to exact his revenge and continue the beating but only manages to take one step as Hatchet turns over on his back and points a nine millimeter at Duncan, stopping him in his tracks. Duncan raises his hands to indicate that he will not try anything. Still pointing the gun at Duncan Hatchet stands up and orders. "On your knees."

Duncan does not move and just continues to glare at Hatchet with incredible anger just burning off of him. Equally enraged as Duncan Hatchet thrusts out his gun a but and demands loudly. "I SAID ON YOUR KNEES!"

Duncan's only response is that he lost his angry expression and chuckled. Hatchet angered even further threatened. "I am the one with the gun. YOU DO AS I SAY FUNNY BOY!"

Duncan stops laughing and asks horrifyingly calm. "You think that just because you have a gun pointed at me that you can tell me what to do? That you can intimidate me?"

Hatchet grips the gun with his other hand to steady it and says promises. "I'm not playing man."

Immediately after Hatchet says that Duncan makes his move and ducks under the gun's range as he charges Hatchet. When he does Hatchet shoots the gun but misses Duncan who goes underneath Hatchet's arms and grabs his wrists. Using his weight Duncan hurls Hatchet onto the ground on his back. When hatchet lands the wind is knocked out of him and he notices that his gun is gone and sees that Duncan is holding it and s pointing it right back in Hatchet's face. Frightened for his life Hatchet pleads. "Please don't shoot."

Duncan, glaring hard at Hatchet asks angrily. "You thought you could scare me?!"

XXX

_There is a young man in an orange jump suite in a lunch line in a cafeteria filled with other men identical jump suites. The man behind Duncan pulls out a shiv and thrusts it into Duncan's abdomen. The young man falls to the ground, holding his side that is bleeding out._

XXX

Duncan throws the nine millimeter far to the side and charges at hatchet. Duncan punches Hatchet in the face as hard as he, _repeatedly._ Hatchet tries to block him but Duncan is even more determined and angered than before. Duncan grabs Hatchet by his collar of his hoodie and hurls him against the van and starts beating Hatchet in the torso with several salvos.

Duncan Demands while still assaulting Hatchet. "You thought you could intimidate me!"

XXX

_There is a teenaged boy with black hair and blue eye's in a military school PT uniform in a large room that has padded flooring with other teenaged boys in military PT gear. The boy is pointing a fake wooden gun at a much older man who is also in military PT gear. The older man charges underneath the gun's level the boy is holding it at, goes underneath the boys arms, grabs his wrists, stands up in a way so that the boy's underarms are on the older man's shoulders lifting the boy as he stands, and then using that leverage the older man slams the boy on the ground on his back. Knocking the wind out of the boy while the older man himself is holding the fake wooden gun and pointing it at the boy._

XXX

Duncan has just punched Hatchet on the right side of his face, knocking him over on to the ground. Duncan starts kicking Hatchet over and over again with all the strength his legs can give.

XXX

_There is a young preteen boy with raven black hair and ice blue eyes who is on the ground in, what looks like a living room of any average home. In the room is a little girl and two older identical looking boys who are quite scared. All of the children there have the same raven black hair and ice blue eye's. The boy on the floor is holding the bloody right side of his face and is looking up to see a man with the same raven black hair and ice blue eyes as the children. The man is standing over the boy, wobbling back and forth from where he is standing holding a broken beer bottle by its neck._

XXX

Duncan is still kicking hatchet but after one last kick to Hatchet's stomach Duncan yells at the top of his lungs. "WELL YOU FRIGG'N CAN'T!"

Duncan stops, takes a few deep breaths and looks around and sees that the masked men are still knocked out and that Hatchet has long since been knocked unconscious. Duncan while still breathing deeply, succumbs to his exhausted limbs, and drops to his knees. When he does he looks down for a moment before looking up to the late afternoon sky and can't stop the flash backs, forced glimpses, and stubborn memories of his life from coming to him.

XXX

Close to dusk at the warehouse parking lot there are several cars still there. If you asked anyone they would say that things hadn't changed... except for one thing. All of the people there are gathered outside of the entrance. All of the people there are either fight club members or are part of the security. Suddenly a navy blue dodge charger drives into the parking lot. Though none of the people there are surprised to see it as it is familiar to them. The charger parks and after it does the Dean himself steps out of it with Harold int tow.

Once Harold out he walks over to the Dean and asks. "What am I doin-"

Harold sees the crowd. "What is this?"

The Dean answers smugly. "I just got a text from my boy. I want you to see this, I want everyone to see this."

For the next few moments Harold looks around just waiting for something to happen... and it does. A white windowless van pulls into the parking lot and in front of the large crowd. When it does the driver exits the van, but who that driver is surprises everyone.

Surprised as hell the Dean asks loudly as he walks over. "Duncan?"

Duncan who has bruising visible on his face greets. "Hi Dean! What are you doing here?"

The Dean is confused answers. "Ah, just here to do a check on my business."

Duncan nods. "Uh okay, well that's good. Very administrative..."

Duncan gets out of the drivers seat and over to the side doors of the van. When he does he opens them. When he does an unmasked man falls out and onto the ground. The man himself had bruising all over his face, his eyes and lip were swollen, his nose was broken and bloodied, all that was on top of the countless other injuries the man probably had that was hidden underneath his clothes. There were three other men in the van behind Duncan. Duncan moves to the side to allow everyone to see them.

They are all, Dean included, surprised to see more similarly beaten men sitting and seat belted in the van middle seats. Duncan unclips the seat belt and shoves out the defeated goons one by one onto the ground just outside of the van on top of the one already there, making a pile of near ER worthy henchmen. The coup de grace was the last one to be pushed out of the van. Chef Hatchet, the Dean's top enforcer, Right hand man, was callously tossed out of the van and on top of the pile. Hatchet looked worse than the rest of the men combined and if it wasn't for the wheezing you would think that he was dead by looking at him.

Duncan looks to see that everyone is in total shock, even the normally reserved and manipulative Dean cannot help but show it. Duncan smiles and announces. "Hatchet and a couple of the security guys came to give me a ride from where I was to here. They told me you sent them?"

The Dean seeing how his men were, glared at Duncan and simply answered. "Yes, I did."

"How thoughtful."

Duncan takes a few steps so that he is in the center of the side door threshold. When he does he nudges with his foot chef off the pile. Hatchet rolls off the pile to the Dean's feet. "Oh, looks like Hatchet hurt himself getting out of the van. Sorry to see that happen. YOU MIGHT WANNA GET THAT LOOKED AT!"

Duncan turns from the disabled Hatchet and to the Dean. "Hey I gotta run some errands. Don't worry I'll be back for my fight tonight."

Duncan does not wait for an answer as he makes his way into the drivers seat and drives the van around the parking lot and back again only now the drivers side is facing the Dean and the crowd. When he does Dean stops the van and says. "Hatchet said I could use the van. Hope you don't mind."

Duncan waits there for an answer this time from the Dean who just stands there glaring at Duncan with intense anger. After a few moments of heated silence with everyone in the crowd waiting for an answer. The Dean finally breaks it. "OF course. Go right ahead."

Duncan tips his hood. "Thank you."

Duncan drives off with the largest smile on his face and looks back at the Dean threw his rear view mirror. When he does he sees the crowd either looking at him or at the Dean in utter shock.

"Hope that was big and loud enough."

_Well hope you liked that people. I'm sorry if it seemed rushed to you. I warned you that it was like that up top. But what can you do? Anyway when I wrote this chapter I envisioned it as something mixed between Son's of Anarchy, which I partially based this whole story, Duncan specifically on. Total drama, for the universe and the characters of course. And CW's Arrow, the action and the flash backs._

_I wanted this to be a mostly Duncan focused chapter. I know that I said and is plainly obvious that Duncan's past is a major theme in this story but come on! Its chapter 21 and we still don't know all that much. Yeah I've given you glimpses but even I have to admit that its time for the whole story. Now while this chapter was still glimpses it was a crap tone to sate not only you but me as well. Don't worry Duncan's full past will come to light very soon._

_Now as for the Trio side of the story... I needed a framing device to not only tie up some things on the part where Duncan is not involved in this chapter but to also break up Duncan's part of the chapter to help you, the reader, process whats going on and to add suspense. _

_Also about Trent's sentence I don't actually know much about the legal system of The U.S. Let alone Canada so as to how his actual sentence would have been, I have no idea. If it is too much or too little I apologize. I just went with what felt right._

_Oh good news Courtney no longer has that stick up her butt, thank god right. Who'd a thought that all she needed to do was get laid. Well... Duncan did in the show. Guess he was right and finally got his wish. But since its Courtney who knows how long that will last?_

_As for the sides of the story for Gwen, Bridgette, Geoff, and Duncan's would be rebellion that will all come up very soon and let me tell you... it will surprise you._

Quote time!

-My friend invented Cliff Notes. When I asked him how he got such a great idea, he said. "Well first I... I just... well, to make a long story short..."


	22. What is left behind

_Hello everyone, I'm back and with a new chapter of desperation. Sorry it took me so long, I have a lot of excuses. Many if not all of which you don't want to listen to. So i'll spare you the details, but I will tell you this. My biggest problem in writing and for this story is what it has always been- procrastination. Its a bitch._

_Anyway this chapter has not been that fun to write and in fact, after writing most of it it occurred to me that I had other options. But after some advice from a friend I decided to stick with this. I won't give you the spoilers but I will tell you what the other options were at the authors notes at the end of the chapter._

_Now for the actual chapter it self, like I said before, was not that fun to write which is why it took so long. It has almost none of the main characters in it aside from Duncan himself until the end. Though it does introduce other characters. Some will have an effect on the story and maybe even come back. Most will not. Its a flash back, or dream of the past chapter._

_To be honest this chapter feels only half done, well that's because it is. This chapter would have been too big. So I shortened it and cut in half. The first half now and the second half later when I think would be a good time for it. The good news is that I'm not only bringing back a not so old friend of the series but now that his chapter is done I can finally move forward and that is good for all of us._

_Oh and this whole chapter will be in third._

**Disclaimer: I OWN NOTHING. **

DESPERATION

Chapter 22- What is left behind

Duncan is driving down a long dirt road in a busted up windowless white van with tinted black windshield and side windows, that has at least three bullet holes on its side. On each side of the road there are grave stones dotting the landscape of the field in rows. As Duncan drives further and further down, going through row after row with every second Duncan is getting dizzier and dizzier. The more he drives the less things seem to be in focus as the painful feeling of numbness starts to take its hold. Duncan knows that at any moment he could slip into unconsciousness and drive his newly 'acquired' van into a head stone and cause an untold amount of property damage... along with ending his life. And with that realization Duncan's only response is. "I wish that was my biggest problem."

XXX

_On the floor of a highly decorated office filled with pictures of sport stars, awards, and some pictures of family there is a rather large man laying down next to the desk in the office with his head in the center of a dark red ooze. The desk itself has the same dark red liquid on one of its corners, the corner closest to man on the floor._

_The man on the floor is not alone as there is another not ten feet away. The other man, who also has his head shaved with swastika and Aryan ink all over his visible skin. He is sitting on the ground at the far wall holding his throat best he can with one hand as a more and more red ooze start pouring out of not only where his hand lay but also from the man's mouth as he chokes more and more of it out as he tries to cling to life. On the floor next to the bald, bleeding man is a lime green tooth brush. It is sharpened at the bottom to a point and is stained and covered with the red ooze._

_Above the bleeding man is as there is a young man who looked barely out of high school or in early collage with dark raven hair and ice blue eyes in an orange jump suite along with two other, but older men with shaved heads and swastikas. The young man in the jump suite is staring down at the bleeding man who clinging to life. The bleeding man himself is staring back at the young man with intense hatred and anger. But as slowly and as quickly as the red ooze leaves his body that look fades and fades and is replaced with a look of fear and confusion. Eventually the bleeding man has no look at all and just stares into space at nothing at all. The bleeding man's hand that was holding his throat to try and hold the dark red liquid in drops to the floor still and just after the bleeding man's eyes continue to fade until they are dull and lifeless._

_At that moment the young man looks at the now lifeless man before him and roars in victory at the corpse shaking his fists as he does so. After he does this the young man looks at corpse of the man who tried to take his life for a few moments. When he does he sees that the puddle of red liquid continues to grow and grow until it reaches his standard issue white shoes, staining them. Noticing this the young man looks down is visibly scared by the site and tries to back away. But when he does he just walked into the other puddle of red liquid. Noticing this as well the young man turns around and sees the other, larger man on the ground next to the desk who is also in a pool of the dark red liquid._

_The young man looks at the still and silent larger man for a moment before looking down and following the pool to his feet. While looking down at his feet the young man sees his hands. When he does he sees that they are covered and dripping with the dark red liquid and also sees that only a small part of it is actually is own as he looks further up his right arm and sees that between his elbow and shoulder there is a large gash that is slowly oozing the dark liquid which is slowly pouring down his arm and dripping onto the floor, only adding to the pool that is slowly growing around him._

_While still looking down at his stained arms the young man squeezes his hands from the utter shock at at what he has done. Barely holding in the horror he is feeling the shaking young man notices something shiny coming from the desk in the room and slowly walks over to it and sees that it is a picture of the Warden's family. The picture had not only the aging Warden but also an aging woman with two full grown young women and one little boy and a small dog. But as the young man looks at this picture he sees in the shiny frame his reflection. When he does the young man sees only a what looks like a mad man, a murderer, a convict in an orange jump suite covered in blood. Almost none of it his own. It is not just the suite that is covered but his arms and face as well._

_At that moment he sees this the young man backs away in fear and finally looks down at himself. Seeing the blood he has on his hands, the young man screams in terror at what he has done. The young man then drops onto his knees in the pool of red liquid as he continues to stare at the blood on his hands._

_To the side of the young man at the door frame, the two other men with shaved heads and swastika ink just look at the spectacle in front of them not knowing what to do. After a few minutes of this one of the men take a step toward the young man but the second he does a shot is fired and the man that took the step drops to the floor, silent and still when he lands. Scared the other man turns to run only to meet the barrel of a nine millimeter which then fires into his face. Dropping the man to the ground instantly._

_After the man hits the floor another young man walks in. This young man looks to be of a similar age to the other young man in the room. Only this young man has orange red hair combed back along with a matching small beard. He also has his orange jump suite half unzipped and using the arms tied around his waist leaving his torso in a wife beater. This red haired man with the gun jumps over the bodies and runs into the room and when he does he stops and sees the sight before him. The red haired man only hesitates for a moment before shaking it off and asking. "Dude! What happened in here?"_

_He gets no response from the young man in the pool of blood who is still mesmerized by his own hands. Growing impatient the red haired man runs up to the young man and slaps him across the face, shoving the young man onto the ground into the pool of blood._

_Waking up and seeing where he is the young man screams at the site and smell of the red liquid he is laying in and crawls back until he is up and against the other far wall, away from the blood. Seeing this the new red headed man grows angry and rushes to the panicking young man and kneels. "Yo, yo hey D. D! WAKE UP!" The red headed man slaps the young man again._

_"Wake up D! You might not want to live past tonight but I do! If I am going to do that I need you sane. SO PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER! Get up-"_

_The red headed man pulls up the young man by his jump suite._

_"Now go grab our human shield and lets go-"_

_He then shoves the young man, or 'D', toward the door as he goes toward the back of the desk walking through and ignoring the pool of blood as he does so. When he gets there he grabs the warden like he did with the young man and hoists him up out from under the desk and shoves him toward the door._

_When the warden is shoved at the door he is grabbed by young man. When he is grabbed the warden shrieks in terror at the site of the bodies of prisoners in his office. When he does the red headed man yells._

_"Oh GOD will you bitches shut up! Jesus, if you two Pansies think its bad in here wait until you go out there. Its a fucking mad house. Now if we want to survive tonight we need to move! Come on lets go!"_

_The red headed man then shoves warden out of the room._

_"You first." He then turns to the blood covered young man and says…_

_"This plan of ours better work."_

_For the first time in a long time the young man speaks._

_"It will."_

_"It better or we're both dead tonight."_

_The red headed man said as he walked out of the office and into the prison where the battle between ruthless and desperate convicted criminals and sadistic self righteous guards battle for control of the prison with guns, knives, and bodies._

XXX

Slowly Duncan pulls the van over to the side of the road and sets it in part before shutting off the engine. Duncan unbuckles his seat belt and opens the door. But the second he steps out of the door instead of landing and standing on his feet Duncan simply falls to the ground. Too tired and beaten to stand. When he lands Duncan is over come by pain surging all over his body as his bones feel brittle, and his muscles feel beaten and smashed, while skin feels gashed and scrapped. From the sheer sense of agonizing pain he is feeling he finds himself having trouble breathing, gasping for air as he chokes on nothing.

Using everything he has left and with all his might Duncan flips himself on to his stomach and using only his hands Duncan starts pulling himself forward. Slowly inch by inch, Duncan pulls himself forward through the grass, gravel, and dirt until he meets a head stone. Not just any head stone, but the head stone of someone who he once knew in life. When he eventually gets there Duncan grabs the top of the head stone and hoists himself up enough so that he can sit up against the slab of tombstone. Duncan than leans back and stares up at the late evening sky as the sun slowly sets.

Duncan continues to stair at the horizon waiting each second as the sun gets lower and lower and the sky gets darker and darker until the sun finally sets and the light fades away. Once it does Duncan closes his eyes.

XXX

_In an empty hallway that is almost as black as night as most of the ceiling lights are inoperable. Leaving only the emergency red lights and a few of stray lamp lights still functioning. The red headed man is on point as his group are stalking down the mostly empty hallway. The young man's fatigues are still stained and partially dripping with blood as he is dragging the warden by the collar of shirt._

_While continuing their careful and silent walk down the abandoned hallway the warden asked. "'Where are you taking me? All the money I have is in the bank. I can't give you anything."_

_The red headed man stops and turns to the warden._

_"Shut up! You have a safe in your office filled with cash and bearer bongs."_

_The warden is visibly confused and asks. "If you already knew that than what do you want?"_

_The Red headed man then demands. "Shut you mouth!"_

_The warden then pleads with tears running down his eyes from the fear. "please don't kill me."_

_Having had enough of this the red headed man runs up to the warden and shoves his gun in his face, pressed firmly in-between the warden's eyes. "One. More. Word."_

_The warden slowly and with intense fear shuts his mouth as he stares down the barrel of the gun._

_The red headed man then says to his partner._

_"D, I know we need him as leverage. But we'll never make it far enough to even complete the deal if we have to drag this A-hole with us screaming and crying the whole way there. Even if he wasn't, if anyone sees him they'll kill us to get to him. That's just if its the guards. He's a walking target."_

_'D' nods before he answers. "I know but we cant just kill him. We need him alive. We can't just let him go either. Then we have no leverage and we will both die here tonight Scott!"_

_After d says that they all hear a noise coming from down the hall. 'Scott' takes the gun away from the warden and points it in the direction of the noise and holds it there. After a few seconds of headed suspense with no action of any kind Scott lowers the pistol and quietly says._

_"He attractions attention. We'll never make it." Scott then turns to D and says to him._

_"You'll stand out too Mr. Bloodsmobile. With all that red on you along with him we'll never make it."_

_Before D can say anything the warden then cry's again. "Please don-"_

_Scott then shoves the barrel of the gun into the warden's mouth. "WHAT! DID! I! SAY!"_

_The second he says that they all hear an echo down the hall as someone says. "In here." They all then hear barred cell door opening. D then says…_

_"Yeah, he'll draw attention."_

_Scott ignores him as he pulls the weapon out of the wardens mouth and points it down range of the dark hallway where they all can hear running foot steps. When he does D steps up and shoves Scott arm down and says. "If you shoot it will only attract more. We need to move."_

_Scott then angrily asks "Move where? We can only go this way or back into the wardens office."_

_"Then we'll have to hide. Pick a cell."_

_D then starts dragging the warden with him but Scott grabs hold of the warden and says.._

_"I'll take him. We don't know it its guards that are coming and he needs to stay quiet."_

_Hearing this H looks down at the warden to see frightened coward. D simply nods and lets go of the warden for Scott. D and Scott then make for prison cells in the hall._

_When D gets into the cell he rips the decades old mats, sheets and the small two pillows from the stainless steel blocks they are sitting on and throws them around the cell. D then lays down on the floor before he pulls one of the white sheets partially over himself. He then pads on the sheet to ensure that the blood on his body is being soaked in. D then pulls the sheet over his head to better hide himself. The second, the very second, he did that he hears someone walk into the cell. He then sees a bright light shined on him through the sheet. But D does not move or twitch from this. The light is then lowered to his torso to where he hopes the sheet has soaked enough of the blood to be convincing. He then hears a voice…_

__"Nothing in here. Anything in the others?"__

__"Nothing so far, no!"__

_"Keep looking! I swear to god I heard some in here. The warden's office is just down the hall. He couldn't have gotten past us so he has to be here. We can't show up to the boss empty handed."_

_D then hears cell doors being opened and just before D can take that sigh of relief from that breath he is holding in he hears foot steps coming back into the cell, walking right up to him. He then sees the bright light shined on his head through the sheet again as he hears the foot steps stop and a rustling sound. D then shuts his eyes just before the sheet is ripped off of him. D does not stir when this happen and continues to play dead as he is being looked over. It is quiet for a few painfully suspenseful moments before d hears a sigh. The man in the room then says._

_"Shit." It is then silent in the cell for a few more moments before the same man says. "No man deserves to die with no word. At least not in this place. Especially, not you kid."_

_The man is then silent again for a moment. Clearly trying to collect his thoughts. "So Cantle got to you before he got to the warden? Fucking savage. He wasn't supposed to do that. If it had been me the boss sent I would have offered to let you in. We could have used you. You could have lived past this. If it meant anything... you were one of the few who didn't deserve to be here. I hope I don't see you where I'm going when I go. Your too good for that. Your no saint, and I'm no priest but ah... you still don't deserve to go there."_

_The light is then leaves as D hears foot steps leaving the room. D then opens his eye a wink to see the man exit the cell. It is far too dark for d to see who it is. After he leaves D closes his eye again as a small tear comes out. Clearly having no words at the man who gave him those words for him. Except how wrong he is. 'After what I have done tonight. I've killed people. I'm still covered in their BLOOD for god's sake. Even I wasn't... I still deserves to be here. If there is a hell I deserve to go to it. I belong there... after what I've done. After I killed Mr.-'_

_D stops his train of thought when he hears the familiar whimpering of the warden coming from a cell further down. When he does D sits straight up but before he could do anything else he hears the sounds of a struggle. D then stands right up and quietly dashes for the edge of the cell block and hides behind the wall as he takes a peak._

_At the other cell block Scott is beating a guard in the head with his pistol. The guard is sitting on the floor bloodied and unconscious and just barely clinging to life. The warden is at the back of the cell in the corner crying in the fetal position watching this. Scott hits the side of the guard's head with all his might, knocking him over and onto the ground. The second after he did Scott angrily turns back to the warden and grabs the warden by his shirt collar and pulls the other arm back and threatens._

_"If you don't shut the fuck up the same thing's gonna happen to you."_

_The warden doesn't stop as he practically out of his mind in fear. Scott having had enough brings the gun down fast but is stopped mid way when he hears a gun being cocked. Both Scott and the warden turn and see another guard completely covered in black riot gear and is pointing a 12 gauge shot gun with the flash light attachment shined on Scott._

_When they do the guard walks closer and sees his partner on the floor with a dark red pool oozing out from his head. The guard then looks back at scoot, tightens his grip on the shot gun and threatens._

**_"YOU FUCKING SAVAGE!"_**

_The second he does that Scott pulls the warden in between himself and the guard. Scott says._

_"You try shit and your boss is dead!" Scott then puts the barrel of the pistol at the warden's temple. The guard is unheeded and keeps his weapon pointed at Scott and the warden. Scott starts to panic and threatens._

_"Did you hear me you fucking pig! You don't lower your gun, you boss is gonna have a bullet in his head!"_

_The guard take a step forward and answers. "You just killed my partner, and he was a bad boss."_

_The warden is outraged at this and demands. "Guard! What the hell do you think your doing?!"_

_The guard takes a step forward and angrily yells. "SHUT YOUR MOUTH!"_

_This makes Scott take a step back, pulling the warden with him. The guard then continues. "We didn't even come here to help you. We came here to bring you to the boss."_

_Hearing this both Scott and the warden panic even more. The warden while still crying says. "Guard, kill this inmate and get me to safety. That is an order."_

_The guard takes another step forward and says. "I don't take orders from you. Not anymore."_

_Scott takes another step back and with the barrel still on the warden's temple asks. "Well who is your boss? Who are taking this fucker to? The Chinese? The Niners?"_

_The guard shakes his head and says' "Zobelle."_

_This gets Scott's attention who says. "I was taking this prick to Zobelle. Shit, we can both take him there. "_

_The guard then looks down to his side at the dead and bloody body for a moment. He then looks right back at Scott with rage in his eyes. "No, we're not."_

_Seeing the hate and rage in the rogue guard Scott decides that trying to reason is a waist of time. So he points the gun away from the warden and at the guard. The guard is undaunted and keeps his shot gun pointed square at his former boss and the murderous inmate that is holding him as a human shield._

_The stand off continues for in heated silence, with only the slightest twinge needed to set either off. Both the guard and Scott have each other in their sights at point blank range with each knowing that only one of them is going to walk away from this._

_The guard takes a step forward and Scott takes another step back, guns still aimed on each other. The warden has his eyes closed pretending he isn't there, that he is still the king of his fortress and his fiefdom isn't on fire. The guard takes another step toward Scott, who then backs up another step only to then meet the wall and end of the cell._

_When he reaches the cell wall Scott does not look away from the rogue guard as he knows that the second he does he will die. The stand off continues for a few more moments until the guard states. "No-"_

_The guard is interrupted when a rolled up bed sheet is dropped around his neck and the guard is hoisted back. The second it happens the guard pulls the trigger, firing the shot gun. The blast just missing Scott and the warden as the guard was pulled slightly to the side when he was yanked back. After the shot is fired the warden screams in terror as Scott tossed the warden to the side, holsters his pistol in his pants pocket, and made it for the guard's gun._

_The guard himself was struggling as he was being choked by the man behind him. The guard grabbed hold of the rolled up bed sheet while he twisted and turned as hard as he could to try and break free. But the hold was too strong. Before the guard could do anything more Scott grabbed hold of his shot gun and was yanking on it to try and take it from him. When Scott did the guard held on to the gun with all his might. But with just one hand the guard's hold wasn't strong enough and Scott yanked the shot gun away from him._

_When he did Scott pointed it at the guard and pumped it, locking and loading a new shell as the old casing was ejected from the port and landed on the ground. "Hold him there!"_

_The guard feared for his life now as he was staring down the barrel of his own gun. The guard elbows the man behind him, hitting him in the kidney causing the man to wince. The man holding the guard grew angry at this and yanked the guard hard to the left and hurled him against the wall, slamming his head against the hard concrete. If it weren't for the helmet the guard was wearing he would have suffered a concision if not worse._

_But the guard didn't give up. He elbowed the man holding him again, pulled hard to the side, anything to break free. Nothing he tried worked. The man's hold was too strong. Desperate, the guard tried backing up against the man holding him. It almost worked as the man holding him was pushed back and tripped. But the man holding the guard caught himself before the guard managed to break free. After he caught himself the man holding the guard pulled the rolled sheet even tighter and shoved the guard against the wall again, knocking the guards helmet off before shoving the guard against the wall a third time. When he did the guard's head made full contact against the cement wall, leaving a large and bloody gash. The man then threw the guard to the side and onto the floor._

_When the guard landed he landed on his face, bashing his already injured skull against the hard cement floor. The guard was disorientated and tried to get up but was far too dizzy and fell right back down on the floor. After that Scott ran toward the guard and kicked him at the side. Knocking over the guard onto his back. The guard grabbed hold of his side wincing in pain. The guard then looked around but found everything to be too blurry to make sense of anything and just sat there._

_"You didn't have to kick'em." D said to Scott._

_"Yeah, whatever. What do we do with'em?" Scott asked with the shot gun still pointed at the guard._

_D shrugged, feeling guilty as he stared down at the guard. "We're probably just gonna leave him hear. Its not like there are any-"_

_D is interrupted when the warden dashes into them, pushing them out of the cell and on to the ground. After they hit the floor both Scott and D look up at and see the warden pointing a pistol at them._

_After he sees the pistol Scott checks his pants pocket and sees that his pistol is gone. Scott then tries to turn over but the second he does the warden yells. "Don't! Lay back on the ground!" Both Scott and D do as the warden orders and go back to laying on their fronts but keep at least one eye on the warden._

_The warden then says. "Good, now toss me the shot gun." Scott looks over to D for a moment. The warden shouts. "I SAID NOW!" Scott looks at the warden and tosses the shot gun to the side of the warden by a good few feet. The warden does not look away at first, keeping his eyes focused on the convicts. The warden then takes a glance at the shot gun to his side but the second he does D kicks the warden's ankle, tripping the warden to the ground. When he does he lands on his back shooting a round into the air when he does._

_The second after both D and Scott dive for the warden. D goes for the warden's hand as Scott dives on top of the warden. D grabs the warden's hand, keeping the pistol pointed away from then as the warden fires blindly. As D is doing that Scott is holding down the warden, keeping him firmly on the ground and stopping him from getting to D. After a few moments of struggle D finally pulls the gun out of the warden's grip and stands up. "I have it."_

_Scott looks up at D for a moment before looking back down at the warden. Scott gets right into the warden's face, just shaking with anger as the warden turns his head and closes his eyes in fear. Scott then backs away and stars punching and beating the warden's face._

_"YOU- DIRTY- OLD- NAHHH!"_

_Scott is then pulled away from the warden by the back of his shirt collar and shoved onto the ground. D then yells at his partner. "KNOCK IT OFF! We need him alive."_

_Scott sits back up and angrily yells back. "i wasn't going to kill him." D then says back in a frighteningly calm voice. "We need him recognizable. Stop beating his face in." D then turns to look at the warden and sees that he is not moving. D then gets down to his knees to get a better look at the warden. He sees that the warden's eyes are closed and are swelling up. His nose is red and bleeding, probably broken and his lip is split open at one side and bleeding. D is sure that if he opens the warden's mouth he'd have a few loose teeth in there along with a mouth full of blood. D then puts two fingers on the carotid artery of the warden's neck and feels a pulse. Relieved D then puts his hand on the warden's shoulder and shakes him. The warden does not respond in any way._

_D then stands back up and sighs. "Well he's alive but you knocked him out. Get over here, your carrying him. I'm on point."_

_Scott gets up and says. "Fuck that! I've been baby sitting his ass too long already, and I'm a better shot than you."_

_"One time, a long time ago, at school, on a fixed range."_

_"So, still better than you."_

_"Your the guy who wanted this prick."_

_"So? I've had enough of that guy. Its your turn."_

_"I save your life, again. You knock our leverage out. You carry his sagging fat ass. And ah, I don't think this will be doing you much good." D then holds up the nine millimetre. Showing that the slide is all the way back and the ejection port is empty. Scott just scoffs and walks over and picks up the shot gun from the floor, not five feet away from the unconscious warden. Scott then gives his partner a smirk. D tilts his head and almost scowls at his partner. "That's a shot gun, we had the same score on that."_

_This only makes Scott chuckle. "Besides bro-" Scott then walks over to the guard that discovered him and the warden and left bloody. He bends down and picks up the Beretta from the guard's holster and shows it to D with obvious delight. "-I got this too." Scott puts the Beretta in the back of his jump suite and puts the shot gun at the low ready position._

_"So, what? You get all the guns and I'm stuck hauling the most wanted man in the prison with no protection?"_

_"You got me at point. But if you gonna be that much of a bitch about it-" Scott points at the now unconscious guard on the floor. "-take his nine mil too. I'm sure he's got one." D sighs and walks over to the guard. As he does so Scott turns back to the warden and mumbles. "Should have killed us when you had the chance."_

_"What?"_

_"Nothing, just get the Beretta and lets get the fuck out of here."_

_D makes it over to the unconscious guard bends down and checks for a pulse... and finds none. D sighs but treads on as he starts looking for nine millimetre. Putting prison guard under the list of people he killed just tonight. "Hey where did you get that nine mil from anyway?"_

_"From a dead guard I found." Scott answers nonchalantly._

_D sighs as he continues his search on the guard in the dimly lit prison cell. "You mean you killed him."_

_Scott turned back to D and says angrily. "What of it?! If he had the chance he would have put me down. He had something I needed. This whole place is a mad house. You saw it yourself. People are killing each other left and right in every part of the prison. Hell, D. You killed too. That guard your digging through is probably dead. Don't you dare judge me."_

_D turned to his friend. "I'm not."_

_"Yes you are! I know that look D. If you think your better than me your as wrong as those fucking jury and judge that threw us in here. Hey has that blood dried yet?"_

_D looked down at himself and grabbed the front of his prison uniform and felt the still damp cloth in his hand. Seeing this Scott continued._

_"Didn't think so. I've made peace with what I have to do to survive here a long time ago. I know what I've turned into, I realize it and accepted it. I thought you did too... what's with this new change of heart?"_

_Scott then points the shot gun down at D just before he pumps it, ejecting the perfectly good shell and inserting a new one. Forgetting he already ejected the used one before. Hearing this D looks back at his old friend only to see the barrel of the shot gun pointed right at his mid section. D looks past the Gun and straight into Scott's eyes. D's ice blue eyes fiercely glaring into Scott's cobalt blue eyes, which is glaring back at him with just as much intensity._

_After a moment of this stand off D asks. "Scott?"_

_"I can't have you slowing me down D." Scott demanded, keeping the shot gun firmly pointed at his abdomen._

_D, having had enough of Scott towering over him, while keeping the eye contact, slowly stands up. After he is fully erect D demands calmly yet threateningly. "Scott-"_

_Scott's response is to shove his gun into D's chest which shoves D back a bit. "Make no mistake D. If I have to chose between you are me. I will chose me."_

_D continues to glare at his 'friend' for another moment before he grabs hold of the shot gun with one hand. "Get. That gun. Away from me."_

_"Make m-" Scott is interrupted when D pushes the gun away and to the side as he kicks the inside of Scott's left leg with his right, forcing Scott on the ground and on his knees. As he does this D pulls out the nine millimetre he had found on the guard and hid in his pocket and points it at Scott's face._

_After Scott lands on his knees he looks up and sees the pistol in his face and angry man with raven black hair, ice blue eyes, and a blood soaked prison jump suite glaring at him. Scott does his best to try and glare back and to try and look intimidating. But truth be told, he is fearing for his life and is shaking in fear. The new stand off lasted for a what seemed like eternity for both of them. Eventually Scott asked. "D-"_

_"Listen to me you disloyal piece of shit! I might not like killing, but I will if I have to. I have killed tonight! I have killed in this prison! And I have killed before this prison. All of which you know about! If I have to kill I will! I know that. You know that. But it will take both of us to make it through this night. I need you and you need me! Is that clear?" Scott keeps staring at D and is unable to speak so he simply nods. D then takes a step back. "Get up."_

_Scott does as he is told for once and slowly stands up. D then pushes the pistol pointed into Scott's right temple and threatens. "Might be a better shot but I've always been a better fighter. Always. Now back up." D said the last part pushing the pistol into Scott's temple and making Scott back up a bit._

_Scott does as he is told and takes a step back. D then takes a few steps to his left, bends down and picks up the discarded shot gun. All the while keeping both his pistol and his eyes firmly on his 'friend'. "Now I'm going to give you this back because I need you to have it. But if you point it at me again I will kill you on the spot. Is that clear?!"_

_Scott is still shaking in fear. Even after everything that has happened this night, after everything that has happened in this prison since his arrival, he still fears his 'friend' the most. "Y-Yeah."_

_D, while still keeping his pistol pointed at Scott, hands the shot gun back to Scott who carefully grabs it but keeps it at the lower readying position and no where near D. D himself then says. "We can't move him like this without eventually being seen. Go scout ahead and see what's out there. But don't engage. Just come back here and tell me what you found. Then we'll move."_

_Scott nods at this for a moment before saying. "Yeah, OK. You know your starting to sound like our old RDC."_

_"Shut up and move." D orders._

_Obeying the order, Scott shuts his mouth, keeps the shot gun at the lower readying position and carefully skulks off down the dark hallway and into the unknown and rioting prison. All the while D keeps his eyes on his red haired 'friend' until he was completely out of site. Even after he can no longer see him D keeps scowling in the direction he saw Scott leave. But soon D turns away and back into the cell where he starts breathing erratically and with deep breaths letting out the breath he was unknowingly holding in. "SHIT!"_

_At that moment everything D has been holding was let loose. All the fear, all the guilt, all the anger, mistrust and sense of betrayal. D drops the nine mil he is holding and grabs both sides of his head and as quietly as he can yells. "YUEAHHAAA!"_

_D is like that a few moments. Just staring at the floor holding his head staring at nothing as his eyes start puffing up and tears escape his eyes as he tries to regain control of himself. After a few more moments D finally pulls himself together. D stands up, takes a few deep breaths and looks at the environment he is in. The cell is a tattered mess. Bullet holes in the wall, along with a shot gun blast blowing a big chunk out of the wall. The sheets and bed are covered with debris and dust from the wall along with some of the blood of a number of people._

_D bends down and picks up the nine mil off of the floor. Hits the ejection button and checks the mag and sees that its fully loaded. He pushes the mag back into the nine mil and pulls back the slide. Loading a bullet into the chamber and ready to fire._

_D looks down at the warden and sees the old dirty coward on the ground still knocked out. Oblivious of the world around him. D can feel his envy of the old man, wishing it was him on the ground knocked out. Not a care in the world. But then D looks at the guard to his left. The one Scott was beating with another nine mil he took from a different guard he murdered. D takes a deep breath and a deep exhale. D then turns to his right, at the other prison guard. Another soul that he has taken from this world this night. Not just any soul. But one that would and did say words at what the guard thought was his dead body. Not words of anger or hate, but not forgiveness either. But words of regret and words of character. Deep character at that. Character that was proven wrong by D's own actions._

_D feels that regret, and shame at his actions he had to commit to save someone who's own character was not worth killing anyone for. Let alone someone who would stop and speak last rights to a dead criminal._

_D takes a quick inhale and wipes away the tears from his eyes. Unknowingly smearing the blood across his face even more. He takes a step toward the dead body of the man and with a tear rolling down his face D says. "I'm sorry."_

XXX

"Are you sure D is where you said he is?" DJ asked with his hands on the wheel driving down a dirt road at the far side of a cemetery.

"That's what my computer says GOSH!" Harold nearly screamed as he turned the computer on his lap so that DJ could see it. The screen itself had a map on it that showed the layout of the cemetery and a blinking red dot up the road.

"What the hell is he even doing here? A cemetery? Come on, really? What could he even be doing here?" Courtney asked incredulously.

Harold, being the blunt prick that he is nonchalantly answered. "Well the Dean could have sent another set of security guys on him and finished the job. A fresh grave would be a great place to dump a body." The second he says that everyone in the car, even the driver DJ, looked at him for a few seconds. Seeing the looks he is receiving, Harold says. "What? I've seen Dexter."

Sighing DJ turns back to the road and continues driving the van. In the back Courtney shakes her head and asks. "Yeah, but that wouldn't happen right? The Dean woul- couldn't do that right? From what you told us Duncan kicked the Dean's enforcers ass. How much man power does the Dean have?"

This time it is DJ who speaks. "No one really knows but he's got more than just one hit squad in his crew. I can tell you that much. Another group could have been sent and D was just barely hanging on. Sorry to say this girl, but what's his face could be right."

"My name is-"

"SHUT UP! Duncan is fine! Okay, he is fine!" Courtney then grabs her legs and pulls her knees close to her face. She then mumbles. "He's fine."

Everyone in the car is silent as Gwen and Bridgette look at their friend, also worried about how Duncan is. Harold just tries to ignore everything and just keeps staring at his screen. DJ just sighs and continues to drive the, in his opinion, ridiculous van down the dirt road.

After a few minutes of driving in the dark DJ sees in the light generated by his headlights a white van hastily parked on the side of the dirt road with the driver side door still opened. "Hey guys! I found it."

This gets everyone's attention as they look out the front of the car and see the van. After seeing it Courtney immediately unbuckled her seat belt and demanded. "Stop the van."

"Let me get closer firs-"

"I said stop the fucking van!" Courtney yelled. The second she did DJ pressed on the breaks. Stopping the van in seconds. The exact second it did Courtney yanked the side door to the van open and ran off to the white van. When she gets there she all but climbs into the van through the open car door. After a quick look she hollers back to her friends. "He's not in here."

Running up to the van DJ and the others right behind him says. "Well the van is here, he's got to be around somewhere. Hey, what's your face, where is he?"

Just now making it to them, Harold takes out his inhaler and takes a swig. "My- name- is- Harold- gosh!"

DJ sighs in frustration and Courtney fumes as she scowls at him. Bridgette says. "Yeah whatever. But look at the ground there's a trail."

Everyone looks to where Bridgette is pointing and there is indeed a trail. Almost like something was dragged across the ground. As they do that Harold takes out his phone and checks the map. "Yeah, Duncan is right down there. He's just a few yards away."

Gwen takes Harold phone and checks the map. "He's right. Its in the same direction as the trail."

Harold takes back his phone and condescendingly says. "Of course I'm ri-"

Bridgette interrupts and says. "Harold, really not the time for that. Lets just go."

At that moment Courtney yanks back Harold's phone and just starts running in the direction where the little blinking dot is. The other two girls fallow her but before DJ can he hears Harold complain. "Oh come on! What is with everyone stealing my phone tonight? Gosh!" DJ just stands there for a moment, looking at the nerdy ginger. Harold looks back at the muscular cook in training and says. "What they are?"

DJ just shakes his head for a moment before saying. "Really?"

Before either of them can do anything more they hear a gasp coming from one of the girls, likely Courtney and head off toward the noise. Once they get there they see the three girls huddling around a grave stone. DJ asks. "What, what is it?"

After he asks that Courtney points the phone at the grave and thanks to the flash light setting activated they can see everything. When she shines it they all see a battered and beaten Duncan sitting on a grave. They are all silent for a moment. All just looking at their friend and how he is. Harold, being the guy that he is asks. "Is- is he alive?"

Hearing his question Courtney scowled at him as Gwen got down on her knees and checks his pulse... she finds one and immediately gives a sigh of relief. "He's alive."

Once she does everyone else takes their sigh of relief. All but one. DJ keeps his straight face and walks over to Duncan and Gwen. "Oh, thank god. I really didn't want to be an accessory to a murder." Harold said happily. This soured the girls feeling of ease as they looked over at the repulsive computer wiz.

After Harold says that DJ gets down on one knee and asks. "Hey do you know if he has any broken bones or anything? Can we move him. He can't stay here all night."

"Uhhh, hold on." Gwen said as she starts pressing on parts of Duncan's body to check pain severity. Duncan moved a few times but not enough to warrant a broken bone and Gwen couldn't feel any breaks or cracks. "None that I can tell. I don't think he has any broken bones. He should be safe to move, but we should call an ambulance."

DJ shakes his head. "Nah, that's not what he would have wanted."

This got Courtney's attention. "How would you know?"

DJ puts one arm under Duncan's knees and the other behind his back and hoists him up. DJ then turns to Courtney and says. "Because I know more about this asshole than any of you."

This catches Harold's and the girls off guard. But before any of them can say anything in response DJ starts carrying Duncan over to the white van. Seeing this Bridgette asks. "Wait, where are you taking him?"

"Over to the white van. I'm gonna put him in the back and take him back to his dorm."

"Wait, I'm coming too." Courtney said running up to DJ.

After Courtney takes off Gwen looks back at where Duncan was laying and looks at the head stone and who it belongs to.

**SCOTT C. FIT****T****S**

**1992-2012**

**LOVING SON**

**LOYAL FRIEND**

Gwen is only left confused after she reads as, much like her friend Duncan, the man this grave belongs to is a complete mystery.

When Courtney gets up to him DJ gives her a look before continuing on and says. "Fine you watch him as I drive. I don't want him falling over and breaking something when I turn. Run up to the van and open the back doors."

Courtney nods and starts running up to the white van. "Okay."

DJ then turns his head to the rest of the group as he walks on. "The rest of you! Get in your stupid van and we'll meet you back at the dorms, okay!"

With a simple nod or yeah the group consisting of two girls and technosavy guy run past DJ and head toward the star wars covered van that is still laded with graffiti. Still walking to the van DJ hears mumbling coming from the would be rebel leader. Most of it was incomprehensible but he does manage to hear two simple words. "_I'm sorry_."

Shaking his head DJ says under his breath. "Hmmph, damn right you are."

_**And that is it for this chapter. So what did you think people? Personally I don't think it was the best but its a start after so long. Like I said before I didn't particularly like writing it but I needed to get it out of the way. Now the other option I had was Duncan after he left the prison and found the club, along with it DJ and Owen. But I guess **__**I'll**__** save that for later.**_

**Now about the characters in this story. Namely Scott. You can probably guess where he came from. And its up to your imagination if he is going to come up again. But about this chapter itself? Like I said its only one half of a full telling about what happened in the prison and the rest will be told at a latter time. Don't worry you'll see.**

**Oh and spoiler alert. In the next chapter it will not be set in the past. It will be set in the present with all the consequences of what Duncan has done in the chapters leading up to this. Hope you enjoy it, I sure hope I do writing it.**

_**About the actual prison itself? The prison is actually a radial design. It looks a lot like an asterisk. This is a linear design with cells aligned in rows down the cell blocks. In the radial design, the cell blocks and program buildings extend from a central hub. This design has not been copied in prisons built over the past 75 years. This is probably because that all the inmate traffic and movement comes to one point in the prison. This congestion in the prison presents a dangerous situation, particularly in high-security prisons. This design has always had the leading number of riots and escape attempts which is why its no longer in active production. Which is why I am using it as a background location in the back story. Hope you all approve.**_

**-We all live and learn as we go, the hard part is figuring out whats worth holding on to, and what is better off left behind.**

**Bing search.**


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